Burt and the Kid
by SarahLovesGlee
Summary: Some headcannon about Burt and Blaine's relationship. Begins when Kurt transfers to Dalton. Rating for safety and potential future chapters. On hiatus until June 2013.
1. Furt

So this is the first part of some headcannon I've been knocking around for a while. I've just always felt like Burt and Blaine have this epic dynamic that isn't actually shown much, i.e. "Who's gonna tell Blaine? You've gotta let me do it!" Ultimately, this would be a series running through all of season two and three. So here is my first attempt at the writing of this. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Despite many dandelion wishes, I do not own the Hummels, Blaine, or anything to do with Glee. *sigh*

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The first time Burt Hummel meets Blaine Anderson is the day that Kurt moves into Dalton. Burt is stressed. He's dealing with impending separation from his kid, the only thing that had mattered in his world for so many years. He's also second guessing himself, something quite unusual for him. He thinks this is the right decision, but he clearly hasn't been doing as good of a job as he thought of knowing what's right for Kurt.

So Burt is worried. He paces when Kurt speaks with the receptionist about the move in. Kurt texts Blaine, who appears so quickly that Burt legitimately wonders if Blaine had been waiting, just around the corner, waiting for his friend to arrive. The curly-haired boy immediately pulls Burt's son into a friendly hug, the sort that he's seen Finn give the guys on the football team all the time. The hug is super brief, and then Blaine is standing in front of Burt, his right hand extended.

He says something, and Burt doesn't really make out the words so much as the tone of politeness, almost covering up the boy's excitement. Burt shakes his hand and nods, throwing in a small grunt of affirmation for good measure.

Blaine moves back to Kurt, grabbing several of his bags at once, and starts up an analysis of the location of Kurt's room, based on the merits of a certain floor and the proximity to the lounge. He seemed to have no problem with the bags, which impresses Burt, who realizes the kid must be quite strong for someone his size. He leads them off down a corridor, up some stairs and through another hallway.

Burt notices the way that Kurt is looking at his new friend, hanging onto every word. Burt thinks that Blaine is trying to sound impressive, as if omniscient when it comes to the inner-workings of Dalton. It takes Burt a moment to realize that Kurt's fascination is not entirely based in the content of Blaine's ramblings, so much Blaine himself. Huh. Burt's suddenly a lot less sure of his decision to let Kurt stay in the dorms.

They arrive at Kurt's new room, and Blaine unlocks and opens the door with a flourish. The room is tiny - a rectangle probably six feet by ten feet. There is a bed, a desk and a dresser. It's not exactly luxurious accommodation and Burt can't help but remember exactly what it is costing him. Blaine and Kurt set to work unpacking, chatting excitedly about some social event or other that is coming up. Burt busies himself setting up the refrigerator, taking an unnecessary amount of time, partially to let the boys chat, but also to give him a chance to listen to them.

Burt can't help but wonder what Blaine's life is like here at Dalton, considering how eager he was to help Kurt move in and that the fact that he's talking with an energy that suggests he'd not seen another person in years. Burt notices that they balance each other well, that the conversation flows naturally, and that neither one dominates the conversation. They go through several topics, over quite a large range of content, almost as if checking to see how far their opinions align.

Occasionally Blaine glances over at Burt, as if to partially confirm his continued presence, but also to monitor Burt's response to Blaine's interaction with his son. Burt looks away quickly most times, not wanting to be caught staring, but tries to adjust his facial expression to be as non-threatening as possible. He's not entirely sure he succeeds.

Kurt excuses himself to go wash his hands – some bottle or other had burst in transport – and Blaine points him in the direction of the bathroom, but stays in the room.

Burt straightens up, and looks at Blaine, who was watching him warily.

"Sir, I –" Blaine begins.

"Burt." The older man interrupts.

"Oh, um, okay, Burt, I, well, I just wanted to say that I think Kurt will be happy here. I promise you he will be safe, and I will do everything I can to make sure he transitions well."

Burt nods, somewhat unsure as to how to reply to that. While this place sure did seem safe, it didn't really seem like somewhere Kurt would be truly happy. Burt began to worry more.

"Look, kid," Burt says "I appreciate what you're doing. It's good for Kurt to have someone he can talk to about, well, it seems like pretty much everything."

Blaine lets out a low chuckle, seeming to relax at Burt's positive words. Burt reaches into his pocket, pulls out a small card, and hands it to Blaine, who takes it, curiosity in his eyes.

"This is my contact information. The school has it, of course, but I want you to have it, too. Anything happens, anything at all, and I want you to call me. I worry about Kurt, but he worries about me, too, and I've learned that I can't always trust him to tell me when he's got a problem. We Hummels are damn stubborn. I'm not asking you to rat on him or anything, but if something worries you, please let me know."

Burt takes a deep breath, surprised he'd said so much. Blaine is looking very carefully at the card, almost as if memorizing its content.

"I will, si – Burt. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on him."

Burt lets out a chuckle.

"I'm sure you will, kid."

Burt notices the way the boy blushed, but doesn't have long to think about it before Kurt returns. He looks at the two men suspiciously, but must decide not to ask what he had missed. Instead he turns to Blaine and asks him about the other boys on the floor.

After a few hours, everything is unpacked and Kurt is settled in. Burt realizes that he can no longer delay his departure, and with a final glance at the tiny dorm room, he lets Kurt and Blaine guide him to the parking lot. Goodbyes are said, and when Kurt becomes tearful, it is all Burt can do to not just put him in the car and drive him home. But he doesn't. He gives Blaine a handshake and a strong look in the eye, gives Kurt one last hug and "I love you" and drives away, armed with the promise of a Skype call that evening.

Burt looks in his rear-view mirror and sees that Blaine has one arm wrapped around Kurt's waist, saying something to him with a clever grin on his face. Right as they were becoming too far away to see, Burt sees Kurt throw his head back in a laugh, presumably at what Blaine had been saying. While Burt is curious to know what could have brought out such a strong response in his son, he is mostly glad that Kurt had met someone that could make him laugh. Maybe this was the right decision, after all.

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So I hope y'all enjoyed that! Please leave a comment to let me know whether you'd want to read more of this, whether it needs more dialogue, etc. I long for constructive criticism, really!

Oh, and if you are here because of my other WIP, well, I do have more written for it; I'm just crippled by the feeling that none of it is any good.

Take care, and, if you're in Canada, Happy Victoria Day!


	2. Special Education

Hi everyone! Thank you to ovoriel and biancaruth for commenting! It made my day! I'm glad to know that people are finding this enjoyable/interesting! :) So here's the second part!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

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The second encounter Burt has with Blaine happens on the phone about a week and a half after Kurt moves into Dalton. It's about six in the evening, and Burt's just settling in to watch the game when his cell phone starts ringing. He mutes the TVs and answers the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, um, Burt, it's, ah, it's Blaine calling? Kurt's friend? From Dalton?"

Burt's surprise quickly turns into concern. Kurt had been in touch every day, whether a longer Skype call or just a few text messages. He was always full of stories. Some were positive, like meeting new friends and exploring the campus, but some weren't as good, like getting a low mark on his first assignment. No matter the story, though, he was always talking about Blaine: something Blaine did or a funny thing Blaine had said. Burt thought that Kurt was doing fine, so why was Blaine calling?

"Hey, Blaine. What's going on? Everything alright?" Burt asked.

"Well, I hope so," Blaine replied, "But I figured I'd call just to be safe."

Burt notices that the boy seems anxious.

"Okay, what is it?" he asks.

"I don't have any classes with Kurt, but I normally see him throughout the day. We have lunch together, that sort of thing. But I didn't seem him at all today. I don't know if he went to class, but he definitely wasn't at dinner. I went to his room and knocked, just to check on him, but he told me to go away. He… he sounded upset, Burt."

Burt sighs. As soon as Blaine called, he realized he should have seen this coming.

"Look, kid," he begins, "What has Kurt told you about his mom?"

There is silence over the line for a few moments.

"Just that she passed away when he was younger, and that they were really close." Blaine replies, his voice soft.

"Today's her birthday." Burt says. "She would've been forty today. Kurt's, well, he's probably dealing with that."

Burt hears Blaine let out a sad noise, not one of pity so much as one that a person might make when actually experiencing pain.

"Burt, sir, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry for calling, for interfering…" Blaine says, the confidence that was usually in his voice non-existent.

"No, don't you dare apologize." Burt interrupts him. "I'm glad you're watching out for him. I really am. So I'll tell you what we're gonna do."

Blaine makes a small noise to affirm that he was listening, and Burt can't help but feel touched that the kid seemed to care so much about Kurt.

"I'm going to call Kurt. Make sure he's okay, that sort of thing. In thirty minutes, you're going to knock on his door with a copy of _The Sound of Music_ and whatever junk food you can find. If he doesn't let you in, you let him be, but chances are he's gonna be wanting something to eat right about now."

Blaine lets out a small chuckle.

"Thanks, Burt, I'll do that."

"Okay, Blaine, thanks for calling." Burt says.

"You're welcome, Burt." Blaine answers.

As Burt ends the call, he finds himself wondering how often he and that boy are going to end up talking.

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So that was shorter than the last part, but I just couldn't really imagine them chattering on and on at that point. Anyways, please leave comments! Have a great day!


	3. A Very Glee Christmas Silly Love Songs

Hi everyone! So this might be the last update for a while. My grandmother isn't doing well, so I'm flying out tomorrow to go see her. I really don't know how often I'll get internet access, or even the opportunity to write over the next week or so. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

Thank you to everyone who is following this story, and to Cirien5 and alovestorytoldincupsofcoffee for commenting! It means a lot to me!

Disclaimer: Nothing related to Glee belongs to me. Sadly.

* * *

Burt didn't get any more phone calls from Blaine over the next few weeks. Phone calls from Kurt became even more Blaine-focused (not that Burt would have thought it would be possible.) Blaine's visit on Kurt's mother's birthday had really left an impact on Kurt, and brought the two boys even closer together. Blaine started coming home with Kurt on the weekends, sometimes just staying for Friday Night Dinner, but more often than not he'd stay the whole weekend.

Burt found this challenging, not because of the whole gay thing, but more in terms of the fact that the boys seemed to be on the cusp of a relationship. If they were just friends, Burt could deal with that. If they were boyfriends, well, Burt would make every effort to deal with that, too. But not knowing where they stood? That was more difficult.

So Burt went with middle ground. He had Carole make up the guest room for Blaine, thinking that it was fairly logical. Blaine's a guest – he gets the guest room. The boys didn't protest. He let them be in Kurt's room together with the door closed, but he did walk past every now and then. When Burt woke up in the middle of the night, he got up to check to see if both boys were in their rooms. He wasn't entirely sure what he would do if they weren't, but each was in his own bed, so he didn't have to worry about that yet.

Blaine was only ever the perfect gentleman while at the Hummel-Hudson house. He helped Kurt and Carole with dinner, well, as much as they would let him. He'd clear the dishes from the table and wash them, too. Finn seemed to like him well enough, especially when he and Burt discovered that Blaine shared their views on sports, and supported the same teams. Burt didn't really have many opportunities to talk with Blaine, but they had a lot of non-verbal conversations, through eye contact and clasps on the shoulder. Burt liked Blaine. He did.

Burt was amazed at the difference in Kurt over the past few months. He wasn't sure how much of that was because that Kurt no longer lived in fear every day, and how much of it was because of Blaine. Kurt smiled more and he laughed frequently. He spent less time alone in his bedroom and more in the kitchen and the living room with his family. His sense of humour had also softened, with fewer snarky and sarcastic remarks being made.

But then Kurt came home for Christmas break without Blaine. He'd come home completely dazed, telling Burt that he had just sung an amazing duet with Blaine. Burt had been pleased, and asked what Blaine's plans were for the break. Kurt broke out of his daze at this question and said something about Blaine visiting grandparents in North Carolina. All at once during the Christmas break, Burt realized that he genuinely missed having the kid in his house.

January rolled around, and school started up again. Blaine came over more and things seemed back to normal. He also attended the football championship game and got to meet all of Kurt's friends from McKinley. Everything was smooth sailing until February.

* * *

Kurt comes home alone the weekend before Valentine's Day. He locks himself in his room and doesn't even come out for Friday Night Dinner. Burt seriously considers calling Blaine to ask him what is going on, but thinks the better of it. After several hours and countless times knocking on Kurt's door, Burt finally manages to convince Kurt to talk about things. Eventually Kurt tells Burt that Blaine has plans to ask out another guy for Valentine's Day. Burt is confused. No, confused isn't even the word for it. He literally is unable to understand why after all this time, Blaine isn't asking Kurt out. Burt doesn't say any of this, however, but instead says a few trite, meaningless phrases about someone better coming along. When Kurt says, "But it's Blaine! No one's better than Blaine!" Burt can't help but wonder if Kurt is right.

A lot of ice cream is consumed that weekend. Sad movies are watched, and Kurt actually wears sweat pants for once. Burt considers calling Blaine, to see if he can't knock some sense into the kid. He doesn't, of course, but he does think about it.

Burt is surprised, naturally, when both boys come home the next Friday night, and something has clearly changed. They are almost shy around each other, both Kurt and Blaine being extra aware of what the other person is doing. When Blaine is in the bathroom that evening, Kurt quickly tells Blaine about how poorly the "Gap Attack" worked out, about the poor guy getting fired, and then about telling Blaine how he feels. Burt is, again, surprised that Blaine didn't confess to having feelings for Kurt, but ultimately is impressed by Blaine saying he needed some time to figure things out, because of not wanting to hurt Kurt further.

The next night is the big event at Breadsticks. The boys come home late, happy and exhausted, and Burt notices that they are looking at each other differently. They are both watching each other, waiting to see what the other person will do next. While Kurt had made the first move and the ball is, technically, in Blaine's court, either boy could change things completely. Burt just hoped it would be a good change.

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Please leave reviews! Take care!


	4. Blame it on the Alcohol

Hey everyone! My grandmother is recovering well! I've had a few chances to write and was even able to find an internet connection! Thank goodness for McDonald's Wi-Fi! :P

I was considering having word for word dialogue from "Blame it on the Alcohol" in this chapter but not having internet destroyed that. Anyways, hopefully it's close enough to canon!

Thank you to Miss Olivia Cellophane, biancaruth, Halie Stone23 and bevjima for commenting! It really motivates me, knowing that other people are enjoying this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

* * *

If the week surrounding Valentine's Day was challenging, the next few weeks were nearly impossible. When Kurt told Burt that Rachel was having a party for the New Directions kids, he didn't think too much of it. Kurt had spent countless hours at Rachel's house over the past few years. The idea of Finn going was a little concerning, but Burt just made it clear that both boys were to be home by midnight. Looking back, he should have asked more questions.

Burt and Carole stayed up to wait for them, but ended up falling asleep in the living room. When they woke up around two in the morning, they didn't find it surprising that the boys didn't wake them up when they had returned. As they went up to bed, Carole peeked into each boy's room, and everything seemed fine.

That is why, at nine o clock when Burt goes into Kurt's room to ask a question about eggs, he is surprised to see Blaine in Kurt's bed. Fully dressed, but still, he is IN Kurt's bed. Kurt has a BOY in his BED. Burt realizes that he needs to be very careful to deal with this situation properly, so he backs out of the room as quickly as he can. He doesn't particularly want to see either of the boys stumble down for breakfast, so he decides that it is a good time to go out and run some errands. Yep, he has a lot of errands to do.

By the time that Burt returns, Blaine and Kurt are both gone. Carole tells him that they left right after eating, deciding to head back to Dalton early. Apparently, Kurt promised to call that night and explain a few things. Burt is not pleased, but he decides to wait for the call before letting himself get too annoyed.

This decision was flawed, as when Kurt calls it is just to say that everything is fine, he and Blaine still aren't together, that he is honestly quite annoyed with Blaine, but that he has a bunch of assignments that really need to be worked on. Kurt hangs up before Burt can get more than a few words in.

Kurt ends up coming home in the middle of the week. Burt proposes a baking lesson, hoping to get Kurt into a good mood before he brings up the events of the weekend. This does not prove effective, as Kurt is in a rotten mood. He complains about how Blaine is "experimenting" with Rachel. Burt doesn't let his surprise at this news derail him from the conversation point. He addresses the fact that Kurt had a guest stay over (in his room, in his bed!) without asking first. Kurt explains that he had Blaine stay because he was drunk, and Kurt didn't want him to drive home. Burt expresses his horror that they were drinking (why didn't he even THINK to ask about that?) and when Kurt says that he and Finn didn't, Burt is only partially comforted.

In this moment, he realizes how much he considers Blaine to be one of his. It's great that Finn and Kurt didn't drink, but he feels responsible about Blaine now, too. Should he sit down and talk with him about the dangers of drinking? Burt doesn't have much time to consider this before Kurt is accusing Burt of having a problem with his sexuality. Burt is really surprised by this, and quite hurt, too. This isn't about Kurt and Blaine's sexuality; this is about respect and the need to follow rules in the house. They manage to resolve the discussion, and right as he starts to leave the kitchen, Kurt shyly asks Burt if he could educate himself on sexuality for gay men, so that if Kurt has questions, he can ask his dad "like any straight guy could."

Burt decides to deal with that later.

Before going to bed that night, Burt goes into Kurt's room and ask what's going on with Blaine. Kurt tells him that Blaine and Rachel had made out while drunk at the party, and that they'd gone on a date last night. When Blaine had told Kurt about his confusion, apparently Kurt had said some things he was ashamed of and an argument had broken out. Burt is even more surprised by this than the whole thing with that Gap guy. What's wrong with these kids? What type of a girl is Rachel to go out with a guy she knows Kurt likes? Then again, Burt thinks, she did cheat on Finn with Puck, another low move. And what the hell is Blaine doing? Kurt just told Blaine about how he feels about him, and now Blaine is making out with girls? Burt just doesn't know what to tell Kurt.

Part of him thinks that it might be time for Kurt to start putting a bit of distance between himself and Blaine. However, another part of Burt thinks that this relationship is doomed to fail, and it might make Blaine realize how poorly he treated Kurt. In the end, Burt tells Kurt that he's sure it'll work out one way or another. Kurt gives his dad one of his trademark eye rolls, but seems touched that his dad would go out of his way to chat about Kurt's boy troubles. Kurt heads back to Dalton early the next morning.

When he comes home on Friday, Blaine is with him. They had just been at the Lima Bean, where Rachel had kissed Blaine. Apparently kissing her while sober had made Blaine realize just how gay he was. Burt can't keep himself from wondering how much of that was because the girl he was kissing was Rachel Berry.

Blaine finds Burt later, and gives him a very sincere, detailed apology for his behaviour over the past weekend. The boy seems genuinely worried that Burt might decide to ban him from the house after all he'd done. Burt listens patiently, appreciating the apology, but aware that he had already, unconsciously, forgiven Blaine. Of course, he doesn't tell the kid that.

Instead, he tells Blaine that he is welcome to continue staying over, as long as he is in the guest room. He tells Blaine that he knows nothing had happened between the two and that he is sure that Blaine would never try to take advantage of Kurt, or of Burt's hospitality. He arches his eyebrows as he says it, and laughs internally at the way that Blaine shakes his head emphatically to convey that he would never do such a thing.

Finally, he suggests to Blaine that he might want to think about his drinking. To consider the amount of fun he had at the time, compared to all of the stuff he had to sort out afterwards and the people he hurt. Blaine looks incredibly ashamed at this. He nods and starts to say something, but either is too emotional to continue or decides against it. Burt lets out a gruff "Okay, then," pats Blaine on the shoulder, and heads out to the kitchen.

The kid's going through something. Burt's not sure what, but he's sure that Blaine will figure it out. And Burt? Burt's gonna stick around with Kurt and see what happens.

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Please review! Have a great day!


	5. Sexy

Hi everyone!  
So this next part occurs during the episode 'Sexy.' The scene with Burt and Blaine in the garage is one of my favourites, and is what really made me want to read a story like this. I couldn't find any I liked or fit with my headcanon, so I figured I'd write my own! This works in a lot of my own thoughts as to Blaine's back story and family life. I know that people have widely differing views as to that sort of thing, but hopefully you wither agree with mine or at least can see the potential in it! Anyways, I hope you like this new chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

* * *

The weekend after the resolution of the whole drunken sleepover debacle, problems arise again. Blaine, as usual, comes home with Kurt on the Friday. They both go up to his room together, but after only half an hour, Blaine comes down the stairs. Alone. He makes his way to the door with his overnight bag, almost as if wanting to sneak out without anyone noticing. Burt intercepts him, and asks him where he's going.

Blaine doesn't meet his eyes when he replies, mumbling something about having a group project he has to go work on. Burt looks at him very carefully. He tells the kid to have a good weekend, but to come back at any time if his plans change. Before Burt can stop himself, he finds himself telling Blaine that he is welcome in their home at any time, no questions asked, even if Kurt didn't invite him or the boys aren't getting along.

Burt thinks that for a moment he sees tears in Blaine's eyes, but the next second the kid looks perfectly composed. He thanks Burt for his generosity and hurries out to his car.

Burt starts to wonder what happened between the two boys, especially when he hears Kurt muttering about not being attractive and having no sex appeal. Burt can't really think of anything to say to that, so he keeps quiet.

On Monday, he gets the surprise of his life when Blaine comes to see him at the garage, talking about how Kurt needs to be educated about sex and protection. He talks about the fact that Kurt could, someday, be at a party and end up having a few drinks. He could meet someone and in that event, not knowing about protection and those sorts of things could really be damaging. Blaine tells Burt that he really wishes that he had been close enough with his dad to talk about this sort of thing with him. He tells Burt that he thinks it would be really good if Burt could talk about it with Kurt, so that he doesn't have to look it all up on the internet.

Burt sees a lot of merit to the argument, in spite of how much he just wants to avoid the topic entirely. He had been meaning to talk with Kurt about this stuff after last week, anyways. The conversation really has revealed a lot about Blaine, too. Blaine starts to leave, apologizing for over-stepping, but Burt's not content to let the conversation stop there. He calls Blaine back, and asks him if he can get the kid some coffee. Blaine agrees (what is it with those boys and coffee?) and they sit down together in the office portion of the shop. Burt's not sure where he wants to start, so he just jumps in.

"Pretty specific example." He begins.

"I'm sorry?" Blaine asks, cocking his head to one side.

"Your example about the party. Kinda specific." Burt prompts.

Blaine sighs and sets down his coffee. He looks uncomfortable but he starts to talk anyways.

"My first year at Dalton, I went to this Warbler party. It was different from all the other parties I'd been to, because one of the guys had got their older brother to buy us booze. I was still new to the school, and I really wanted to impress the guys, so when they offered me drinks I took them."

Burt nods, realizing his lecture about drinking last week must really have hit home for Blaine. Blaine's not really looking at Burt, telling the story in a near robotic way.

"This guy came over to me. He was a senior, he was out and he seemed to like me. I was just so amazed that he'd be interested in me."

Blaine lets out a dark chuckle, and Burt is surprised by the bitterness in his voice.

"Turns out he'd worked his way through all the gay kids at Dalton, and was just excited to have new blood. It wasn't anything to do with me at all. So he kept giving me drinks and I kept drinking them. "

Burt was starting to get genuinely worried about where this story was going. Blaine looks up and sees the concern on Burt's face. At this, he seems to remember exactly who he is telling the story to, and looks quite embarrassed. He mumbles the rest of the story, all of the confidence and charisma from earlier long gone.

"He took me up to his room and, well, I'm really lucky because some of the Warblers came and found me before we could do all that much."

Burt lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"But that's not the worst part." Blaine continues, starting to get a bit choked up.

It is in that moment that Burt understands just how much he cares about Blaine. Hearing this story, he hasn't thought once about Blaine in terms of his relationship to Kurt. This is all about Blaine. It's about his struggles, and Burt realizes that nothing Blaine is saying is changing anything about how he feels about the kid. There's nothing that Blaine can say, Burt suddenly realizes, that will make Burt walk away from him. Sure, the kid has made some mistakes, but he was just that – a kid. One with a lot more things to work through than most kids do.

The way Blaine is telling the story makes it clear to Burt that no one else has ever heard the full story. The Warblers obviously know the facts of it, but Burt doesn't think that Blaine has ever explained the emotional side of things to anyone. Everything Blaine is saying is the sort of the thing that one would tell themselves as they work through it, trying to make sense of their experiences and emotions. Burt is amazed that Blaine trusts him enough to talk about this sort of thing.

Remembering what Blaine had just said, Burt leans forward.

"Look, kid, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But you need to know that I'm not going to judge you for anything you say. I care about you, and I just want to know that you're doin' alright."

A few tears slide down Blaine's cheeks. Burt's pretty sure his heart breaks.

"The worst part," Blaine tries again, his voice no louder than a whisper, "is that I wanted it. I really did. I was so angry at Wes and David for interrupting and taking me back to my room. I'd been so glad to finally feel appreciated, to feel desired and I was furious that they would take that from me."

Burt nods, showing that he's still listening, and makes every effort to keep his expression sympathetic.

"I've realized since then just how wrong I was. He didn't want me, not at all. And I didn't even like him, but I just wanted to feel wanted. I know now how much I would have regretted doing anything with him. It wouldn't have meant anything."

Burt understands this one. He lost his virginity to the first girl he dated that would actually put out. It didn't mean anything and he'd always regretted it, especially after he met Kurt's mom.

"And I didn't know anything about protection," Blaine continues, "and apparently he didn't either, because a few months later I found out that he'd given someone herpes. And, sure, herpes isn't that big of a deal, but he could have had anything else for all I knew."

"So," Burt interrupts, "All of this is about wanting Kurt to not make the same mistakes you did?"

Blaine nods, looking considerably calmer now that he'd gotten through the worst part of the conversation.

"Yes, sir," he says, "I just, he's too good to have to go through that sort of stuff. He's too perfect. Too innocent. I just, I feel the need to protect him from anything that could hurt him like that."

"So you tried to talk about this stuff with him?" Burt asks.

"Yes, I did, but, as I said, he was too embarrassed to talk about it." Blaine answers, uncomfortable again.

"Okay, so is that why you left so quickly on Friday? Wait, is that why he's been muttering stuff about not being sexy over the past few days? "

At this, Blaine blushes, and that's all the confirmation Burt needs.

"We, uh, we've been trying to come up with an edgier number for regionals and Kurt and I practiced a duet. It's a, well, it's a provocative song and I noticed that Kurt was making these weird faces during it. When I asked about it, he said that those were his sexy faces. I, uhm…"

Blaine gets incredibly uncomfortable at this point and Burt arches his eyebrows.

"I offered to show him how to, well, how to look more alluring." Blaine is bright red by the end of this. Burt's fairly sure that he is, too.

"So it didn't work then?" Burt asks.

"No, and that's what clued me in to how uncomfortable he is when it comes to stuff like sex." Blaine answers. "He, uh, he asked me to leave. We haven't really talked since."

Burt really doesn't know what to say. Should he tell him about how much of an impact that remark has had on Kurt? Surely that would be betraying some confidence. He decides to hint his way around it.

"Just remember," he begins, "You're the only gay guy he knows. He looks up to you for this sort of thing. What you say goes - in his opinion, at least. So if you say something about him not looking sexy…"

"That's not what I meant!" Blaine interrupts, clearing understanding what Burt was hinting at. "I meant that he was trying too hard. When he's just being himself he is overwhelmingly se-"

Blaine cuts himself off. Burt is glad.

"Okay then, I'm just gonna pretend I don't know where you were going with that."

Blaine's blush has returned. Burt is fairly sure his has, too. He decides it's time to re-focus the conversation.

"So I'm gonna talk to Kurt. I'll go find some pamphlets or something that will hopefully cover all the stuff that I think he'll prefer to not hear me talk about, but I will talk to him about the emotional stuff. How's that sound?"

Blaine nods.

"That sounds good." He says. "I think it's really awesome that you're doing this for him."

"Well it's important." Burt replies, and Blaine nods again, eyes wide, looking serious. "So your relationship with your dad isn't so good?"

He'd been wondering about that ever since Blaine said about thinking his dad wanted to make him straight. Blaine shrugs.

"He tries. He's not, like, hurtful or anything, but he just doesn't understand me anymore. He's working on it, trying to find common ground and stuff. Mutual interests that we can focus on, that sort of thing. I know he's uncomfortable, though. I just always have felt like he wishes that I could be straight just to make things easier."

Burt can actually understand this more than he'd care to admit.

"Well, in all honesty, I can kinda get that." He says. Blaine looks surprised. "Whenever someone hurts Kurt, or even, like, if I hear something on the news about homophobia, I wish that things were different for him, easier. I mean, I don't ever wish he was straight, because then he just wouldn't be Kurt, but I wish it won't always be so hard for him."

Blaine is emotional again, hearing this.

"Maybe that's how my dad feels, too. I've never really thought about it like that."

Burt nods.

"Maybe you ought to give him more credit."

"Maybe." The boy replies.

They sit in comfortable silence for a few long moments.

"Well," Blaine finally says, getting up to leave. "I suppose I had better head back to Dalton. I've got some apologies to make."

He frowned at this last part. Burt could tell he was thinking about how much he must have hurt Kurt's feelings.

"Just between you and me," Burt said, "I'm sure he'll forgive you in a heartbeat."

Blaine smiles at this, looking relieved.

"But don't you go taking advantage of that! I'm not saying you can get away with anything you want!" Burt hastens to add.

Blaine just chuckles a bit.

"Don't worry, Burt," he says, "I'll make sure to grovel an appropriate amount."

Burt laughs at this and clasps the kid's shoulder.

"You sure seem to have Kurt all figured out!" He says.

Blaine laughs at this.

"I don't think that I will ever have your son figured out, Burt!" Blaine waves as he leaves the shop.

Burt watches the kid leave. He hopes that the two boys will get together in the end. He's not really sure what he'll do if they don't.

* * *

Well, that ended up longer than I was expecting it to be! I know I didn't cover the entire episode, but I think I got the most important parts in terms of Burt/Blaine interaction.

Please leave comments! Take care!


	6. Original Song

Thanks so much to AntigoneScorned and CeredwenFlame for commenting! I always appreciate it!

This chapter quite literally wrote itself. Bits of it actually contradict some of my headcanon, but I think it flows well with the other chapters. Anyways, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

* * *

Later that week, Burt was sitting in the living room, watching the game and drinking a beer, when he heard a shriek from upstairs. He took the stairs two at a time to get to the source of the noise. He wasn't surprised to find out that it had been Kurt but was surprised by the cause: Pavarotti had died. Kurt had been taking care of the canary since he started at Dalton. He had a really strong connection to the bird but then again, Kurt had always had a strong emotional bond with animals. Burt blamed all the Disney movies Kurt watched as a kid.

Burt managed to calm Kurt down, getting him some of the chamomile tea he liked so much, and he thought that the whole sad experience was finished. He was wrong.

Burt's phone rings the next day in the early afternoon. He sees that it's Blaine, and can't help but laugh.

"Let me guess," he says, without even a hello, "Kurt's crying over a dead bird and you're worried about him."

Blaine lets out a bit of a laugh.

"Oh, so you knew about Pavarotti?"

"Yeah," Burt replies, "Happened last night. I had to get Kurt that flowery tea and everything to calm him down. He doing alright?"

"I guess so." Blaine answers. "He came into the Warbler meeting wearing all black, announcing that he was going to sing a song in Pavarotti's memory."

"He's one dramatic kid, I'll give him that. Kid gets emotional about the weirdest things."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Blaine says hesitantly.

Burt's not sure he likes that transition.

"Sure, what's up?" Burt asks, trying to not let his concern show in his voice.

"Watching Kurt singing was… very emotional for me. I, um, I realized how much he means to me and how bad of a job I've done showing him that. He's just so incredible, and I – I really like him, sir."

Blaine's voice is different that Burt's ever heard it before. Softer.

"What are you getting at, kid?" Burt asks.

"Well, Burt, I, uh, I think I'm going to ask Kurt out. But I just wanted to mention it to you first. Just in case you'd have a problem with it. I know that he's really going to care what you think about it. I care about it, too. And I know I've done some stuff that might not make you feel comfortable letting me go out with your son, but I promise –"

"Blaine." Burt interrupts. "Go ahead."

"I promise that I will do my very best – what?"

Burt laughs.

"Go ahead and ask him out."

Burt can hear Blaine pause for a moment to take a few deep breaths.

"Are you, are you going to threaten me at all, sir?"

Burt laughs really hard at that.

"No, I'm not kid. Go ask Kurt out. I'll see you at Regionals and then both of you can come home for the weekend. We'll talk about stuff then."

"Okay," Blaine says, sounding relieved. "Thank you, Burt. I'll see you on Friday."

"No problem, kid." Burt replies. "Go get him."

"I will! Thanks again! I'm so glad -"

"Shut up and go find Kurt!"

Burt can hear Blaine laughing as he hangs up. He crosses his fingers for the boys.

* * *

Burt is surprised that Kurt doesn't call him to give him the good news. He wonders briefly if something had gone wrong, but he figures that Blaine would probably have called him crying if it did. He's excited for Regionals, but nervous in a way he'd never been before. It was simple going to go to the competitions before. He'd cheer for the New Directions and either celebrate with them in their victory, or join them in insulting the other teams if they lost. But now? Now it isn't as easy. He has Kurt and Blaine in the Warblers and Finn in the New Directions. He isn't really sure what to hope for.

When he sits down in the auditorium, he still hasn't figured it out. He pulls out the programme, just for something to do while waiting for the performances to start. He skims it, but something catches his eye. Under Dalton Academy Warblers it mentions two students performing a duet: Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel. Huh. Burt figures that answers his question as to how Blaine's confession had gone.

Their performance is beautiful. Burt doesn't know much about music but even he can tell that the boys' voices blend perfectly together. When the song is over, Blaine drags Kurt into the centre of the stage, so that he can get the full applause. And then they launch straight into another number, with Blaine on lead vocals. The kid is in his element, performing in a flawless display of confidence and charisma. Burt finds it strange how different that Blaine is from the one that he saw crying in his shop last week.

The New Directions perform and Burt tries to pay attention. Rachel Berry sings a song about trying to figure stuff out or something like that. The song is Rachel all over. Dramatic and full of self-pity. Burt feels himself getting impatient. The next song is not much better. It's about feeling like an outcast, about being bullied. It actually makes Burt quite annoyed. He knows that the Glee kids aren't all that popular, but whatever they've had to deal with can't even compare with the crap Kurt's had to put up with. What right do they have to be singing about this stuff? Burt sighs. So much for staying impartial. He's being too hard on the kids. He decides to distract himself, thinking instead about what he's going to say to Kurt and Blaine tonight.

He's happy they're together now (they are, right?) but it is going to make for some changes in how they do things. Burt thinks through the conversation in his mind. He can see Kurt getting hostile. Kurt's still learning that people that disagree with him aren't always attacking him. Burt decides to make sure to monitor Kurt as he talks, hopefully to be able to diffuse any problems before they explode. Burt's not really sure how Blaine will be during the conversation. He's just starting to consider that when Carole nudges him.

All three clubs have now taken the stage. Burt's eyes naturally find Kurt first. He's standing right next to Blaine, the other boy's arm around his waist. Blaine whispers something into Kurt's ear, and Kurt turns his head, pressing his face into Blaine's neck. It's amazing how intimate the display is. After several long moments of suspense, it is announced that the New Directions have won. Burt tries to suppress the disappointment he feels. He barely notices Sue Sylvester punching out the judge, having returned to watching Blaine and Kurt. Blaine's pulled Kurt to him, wrapping his arms protectively around the taller boy. Burt watches as Blaine moves one hand up to smooth at Kurt's hair and is amazed that Kurt lets him.

He can see that Blaine is whispering to Kurt, presumably something comforting, and Burt would love to know what he is saying. Kurt's never really been one to accept comforting, preferring to always appear stoic and controlled, before breaking down in private. Burt decides that it says a lot about the relationship the boys have if Blaine is already able to connect so well with Kurt. Burt is a bit jealous, if he's honest.

The auditorium begins to empty out and Carole grabs Burt's hand and drags him towards the backstage area. He congratulates the few kids he recognizes from New Directions and gives Finn a hug. After a few moments, he spots Kurt and Blaine walking in their direction, hand in hand. He crosses his arms over his chest and puts on a stern face.

"You got somethin' you want to tell me, kid?" he asks Kurt, trying hard not to laugh at the concern that's appeared on his face.

Kurt looks at Blaine, who Burt can tell is also holding back laughter, and then back to Burt. He looks down at their joined hands.

"We're together now?" Kurt squeaks, more of a question than an answer.

"I can see that." Burt replies.

Carole ruins the moment by squealing and hurrying over to hug both boys at once.

"Boys! I am just so happy for you! Congratulations! You have to tell us everything! You two are just so cute together! Let me get my camera!"

Carole takes a few pictures and when she's finished, Burt walks over and pulls Kurt into a hug.

"Any reason why you didn't tell me sooner?" he asks.

Kurt doesn't reply, merely watching in surprise as Burt hugs Blaine, too.

"I thought I should tell you in person? In case you weren't okay with it. But I guess that's not a problem?" Kurt's rambling now.

Burt and Blaine both laugh.

"Go out to dinner. Go have a good time with your friends. Make sure you're home by ten, and then we'll sit down, the three of us, and talk about this." Burt tells his son.

Kurt nods, still confused, but allows Blaine to pull him over to the Warblers.

"What did you do?" Carole asks, looking over at Burt.

Burt laughs and promises to tell her everything on the way home.

* * *

The boys are in the door at 9:55, both with content smiles on their faces. They sit down side-by-side at the kitchen table where Burt is already waiting for them. Burt smiles back at them, hoping to not freak them out too much.

"How was dinner?" he asks graciously.

"It was lovely." Kurt replies, in one of the dreamiest voices that Burt has ever heard.

"Good to hear." Burt says, trying not to laugh. "So there're just a few things I wanna talk about. Things have changed between the two of you so a few things gotta change around here, too."

Kurt opens his mouth to protest but Burt cuts him off.

"Just let me talk, Kurt, and then you can say whatever you want."

Kurt looks annoyed but leans back in his chair and nods.

"Thank you." Burt says. "So first of all, Blaine needs to follow all the rules of this house, especially the big one: honesty. I don't want either one of you to ever lie to me. Kurt, I don't want you to tell me you're having a sleepover with the girls when you're actually going to Blaine's. No matter what, you're gonna be honest with me, and I promise I'll do my best to be cool about whatever's going on."

Blaine nods and Kurt, as Burt expected, has a decisively hostile look on his face.

"Next," Burt continued, ignoring Kurt's expression. "You two are going to respect each other. Any arguments are gonna be settled like the intelligent and kind people I know both of you are. You're gonna talk stuff through. And most importantly, you're gonna talk about your boundaries. Neither one of you is gonna push the other in to stuff you're not ready for. If you're gonna do stuff, you're gonna talk about it first, and you're gonna be safe."

Both boys have comically wide eyes, and Burt knows exactly what's in Kurt's mind. Kurt's thinking that he just made it through The Talk, and should by no means have to be subjected to another so soon.

"If you two decide to become intimate, I want you to both get tested first and come and talk to me. I'm not accusing either of you of having anything, but it's just the smart thing to do."

Blaine nods appreciatively at this, and Kurt's hard expression is softening. Although embarrassed, Kurt seems to appreciate that his dad is willing to talk about sex with him and his boyfriend without sounding grossed out. It's uncomfortable for all of them, but they're all better men for it.

"Finally, we're gonna keep making up the guest room for Blaine. If you guys decide that you want to share a bed at some point in the future, well, that'll be okay, but stay respectful of everyone else here. No one wants to hear if you're doing anything. Oh, and if you're home alone together, remember that anyone could come home at any time. Any comments or questions?"

The boys looked at each other. Blaine speaks first.

"That sounds fine to me, sir. It's all very kind of you."

Burt looks to Kurt, who now looks slightly confused.

"So you're okay with us being together?" he asks.

"I am." Burt says. "Really, I've been expecting it for months now."

Both boys seem so surprised by this that Burt can't help but laugh.

"Now go on upstairs. You've had a busy day. A busy week, really. I'll see you in the morning."

The boys laugh awkwardly, but ultimately take Burt's advice. They say good night and head up the stairs.

Burt hopes that things will be easier for the two boys now that they have each other.

* * *

Please leave comments! Have a great day!


	7. Night of Neglect

Hey everyone! I've got just a short chapter for you today, but hopefully there will be more tomorrow!  
Thanks to ayearafterklaineoccurred and biancaruth for the comments!  
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

* * *

As Burt had hoped, things run somewhat smoother for the next little while. Kurt and Blaine are really figuring each other out, and figuring out who they are as a couple. It's interesting to watch. Blaine is more confident, both through Kurt's encouragement and a need to keep Kurt proud to be with him. Kurt's transformation is almost comical. He floats around the house, always humming something or other, a look of utter bliss on his face. He seems oblivious to most things happening around him, no matter how loud or obnoxious Finn might be.

One afternoon, Burt knocks on Kurt's door, but doesn't wait before opening it. He is met with the sight of Kurt laying on top of Blaine, the boys kissing passionately. Burt hurries out of the room, closing the door behind him with a slam. The boys blush and apologize later and Burt apologizes for not waiting for the all clear. They are careful to avoid the topic again.

Blaine continues to sleep in his own bed. In all honesty, Burt is surprised. When one considers how inseparable they are during the day, it would only make sense for them to be the same at night. Kurt seems to be surprised by Blaine's retreat but he never protests, just sweetly kissing Blaine good night before they head off to their own room.

The boys go to the "Night of Neglect" concert the New Directions hosted. They come home looking tense. When Burt asks them what's wrong, they both shake their heads and say that is was nothing. Burt marches them to the kitchen table.

"What did we decide right here, last week?" he asks

Kurt and Blaine look at each other, confused.

"There were a whole bunch of rules, try and pick the right one." Burt continues, growing quite impatient.

"We, uh, well." Kurt stutters.

"We had a run in with Karofsky." Blaine says softly.

Burt has to force himself to take deep breaths and not just jump up and drive to wherever that jerk is.

"We exchanged insults and he was just starting to get a bit violent when Santana came into the hallway. She threatened him and he went away." Blaine says, hoping to calm Burt down. "Burt, you probably don't know this but I'm actually quite skilled at boxing. I know I'm quite a lot smaller than him, but I was completely ready to defend Kurt however I might have to."

Kurt says something about being able to take care of himself, but Burt is touched. He's still mad, but if something was gonna happen, at least Blaine was there. Burt's not really sure what to do at this point. Surely the administration wouldn't do anything, especially considering the fact that very little seemed to have actually transpired. He decides to let it go for the moment.

"Well, I'm glad you're both alright." Burt says. "Hopefully you won't run into him any more than this."

The boys nod.

"I am a bit annoyed with you two, though." Burt adds. "I don't like it when you keep things from me, no matter how little you might think it is."

Kurt nods again, looking vaguely guilty, but Blaine looks destroyed.

"So, just, don't do it again, alright?" Burt finishes, hoping to calm Blaine down.

Burt watches Blaine try to compose himself. Burt's learned that Blaine has three faces. He's got the artificial Blaine that is the most common. This Blaine is the performer, the perfect young man. The second face is the true Blaine. Loyal and intelligent, enthusiastic and kind. The final face is the one that breaks Burt's heart. It's the face of devastation, of low self-worth and of brokenness. While Burt is glad that Blaine is comfortable enough around him to show the third face, he just can't stand it. In this moment, Burt watches Blaine switch almost instantaneously from the third face to the first face. Burt isn't pleased by this, either. Blaine's concealing himself, putting on the face he thinks Burt wants to see, and locking out his feelings. Burt decides to deal with this.

"Blaine, you wanna tell me what the hell's going on?" he asks. He feels like he should have been more subtle, but, hey, too late now.

"Sir?" Blaine replies.

"You're upset. Don't think I can't tell." Burt watches as Kurt turns to look at his boyfriend, putting an arm around him. "So what is it? It's something I said, I know that."

Blaine looks away, the façade collapsing, revealing that awful third face again. Kurt pulls the boy closer to him, and whispers something that Burt can't hear into Blaine's ear. Eventually, Blaine mumbles a reply in a small, sad voice.

"I'm sorry that I disappointed you, Burt."

It really shouldn't surprise Burt as much as it does. Burt's taken on such an important position in the boy's life. Of course he craves Burt's approval. Not only is Burt increasingly becoming a sort of father figure to him, but Blaine's probably thinking that if he does something wrong, Kurt will be taken away from him.

"Kurt, can you go upstairs?" Burt asks.

The appalled look on Kurt's face would be comical if the moment wasn't so upsetting.

"Dad, I really don't think that –" Kurt protests.

"Just go, Kurt." Burt insists.

Kurt sighs, kisses Blaine's forehead, and leaves the room. Burt knows he's just standing a step or two out of sight, but he decides to ignore that.

"Look, Blaine." Burt begins. He waits until Blaine looks at him before he continues. "I like you. Okay? I'm planning on you being around for a good long time. I'm not just putting up with you or keeping you around because Kurt likes you or any crap like that. I genuinely enjoy having you around."

Blaine has a tear leaking down one cheek, his eyes wide.

"When I say I'm annoyed, I just mean that I wish that you would let me worry about you. I'm sure you think that what happened was only a big deal because Kurt was there, but when you were telling me about it, I was worried for you, too. I thought by now you would know you could tell me about this sort of thing. I'm not disappointed in you, okay?"

Blaine nods, wiping at his eyes.

"Now go get Kurt to hug you better."

Blaine lets out a laugh mid-sniffle and Burt can hear Kurt laugh from the hallway. Blaine mutters a thank you to Burt, and heads out to where Kurt is waiting for him in the doorway, arms open.

* * *

Okay, so this was just supposed to be a few paragraphs leading into 'Born this Way', but then Blaine decided to get emotional. At least he has Kurt!

Please review!


	8. Born this Way & Rumours

Hi everybody! Thanks and hugs go to bevjima, ayearafterklaineoccurred, biancaruth and Vita Amore Riso for commenting!

I decided to combine 'Born this Way' and 'Rumours' to make for a longer chapter. Despite how much I love Fleetwood Mac, I really did not enjoy the 'Rumours' episode, primarily because of how quick Finn is to accuse Kurt of cheating. I'm sure that Finn would have said something to Kurt and/or Blaine about it at some point, so I wrote that in. Again, I did my best to hold to canon from the episode, but I didn't have access to the internet while I was writing, so hopefully I didn't destroy anything!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

* * *

Burt was really not expecting to find himself back in Figgins' office with Kurt, and Dave and Paul Karofsky. He's surprised by how desperately Kurt seems to want to return to McKinley. When Kurt wants a moment alone to speak with Dave, Burt gets suspicious. Kurt's keeping something from him; he is sure of it. He wonders if Kurt's keeping it from Blaine, too. Somehow, he doubts it. Kurt decides to go back to McKinley, and as much as it worries Burt, it will be nice to have Kurt home. As they're leaving, Kurt mentions being worried about telling Blaine. Burt worries with him.

When Blaine comes by that evening, Kurt takes him to his room to tell him the news. Burt walks by a few times to monitor the conversation but Blaine seems to be nothing but supportive.

When they come down to dinner, Blaine doesn't get as involved in the conversation as he usually would. His smile is wide, but Burt notices that it doesn't quite meet his eyes. Everyone gathers in the living room after dinner to watch a movie, but after just a few minutes Blaine excuses himself, saying he's going to bed early because of a headache. He tells Kurt to go ahead and keep watching the movie. Burt waits about twenty minutes and then leaves to "grab another beer."

He heads up the stairs and raps once on the guest room door. He doesn't hear any response, so he cracks the door open. Blaine is lying on his side, facing away from the door, but Burt can tell from the way is shoulders are shaking that he is crying. Burt sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Let me guess. You want what's best for him. And you'd never be selfish enough to beg him to stay with you, but you don't know how you're gonna manage without him." Burt suggests.

Blaine hiccups and nods.

"H – how did you know?" he mumbles.

Burt laughs sadly.

"It was the same for me when he wanted to move into the dorms. I knew I was gonna have to let him leave at some point, and I knew it was best for him, but dammit I just wanted to keep him here."

Blaine turns, lying on his back. He's still not looking at Burt, but he's not facing away any more.

"It just hurts. I'm trying to stay rational about this. I keep telling myself that he's not going to leave me. That he's not doing it because of me. That I haven't done anything wrong. That sort of thing. But it still hurts."

"You can tell him that, you know." Burt says. "You can tell him that you'll miss him, that you understand the strain it places on your relationship. This sort of thing is a two-way street, you know? You've helped Kurt out a lot, been supportive of everything he's going through. Well, why don't you let him do the same for you?"

Blaine sniffles a bit.

"I don't know." Blaine says thoughtfully. "I guess that it's still really hard for me to open up to people. Even with Kurt. I'm just scared of being vulnerable."

This makes a great deal of sense to Burt.

"When I gave Kurt 'The Talk', I told him that a person is never more vulnerable than when they expose themselves, physically or emotionally, to another person. You've spent a long time trying your best to avoid getting hurt, but you're not going to get any closer to Kurt if you block him out for this sort of thing."

"I'm afraid to share a bed with him." Blaine says suddenly. "I'm worried that if something happens between me and Kurt and we're not together any more, I won't be able to sleep without him."

"Well kid," Bury says, scratching the back of his head. He tries a different approach. "You're just gonna have to figure out what you want from the relationship. If you want to avoid getting hurt at all costs, you might be better off just being friends."

The terror in Blaine's eyes is confirmation enough of how ridiculous that suggestion was.

"Okay, well, since that is obviously out of the question, you might as well go for it. You get what you give, right? So whatever you put into the relationship, Kurt will put in, too. And sure there's stuff that you could lose, but thing about how great it'll be to have that stuff, even if it's only temporary."

Blaine nods, wiping his eyes and sitting up.

"I'm being stupid, aren't I?" He asks.

Burt laughs but shakes his head.

"Nah, I wouldn't say that. Most people think through this at some point in a relationship. Plus, I know I'm biased and all, but Kurt is such a good catch. He would be a lot to lose."

Blaine laughs at this.

"Are you really okay with us sharing a bed, though, Burt? Honestly?"

Blaine's eyes are wide. Burt takes a moment to think, just so he can be sure he words things right.

"Honestly, I am a bit uncomfortable." Blaine looks anxious, but Burt holds up a hand. "Having said that, I am a hell of a lot more comfortable with it than I would be with letting Finn share a room with a girl. It is a big deal, but as long as both of you realize that and treat it accordingly, I can't complain."

Blaine looks calmer after this, but still thoughtful.

"I think I'm going to wait a while longer. I can still see us both being a little awkward about it, so it might be good to wait."

Burt shrugs.

"Whatever you want, kid. You might want to tell Kurt about all of this, though, in case he's been wondering."

At that moment Kurt pops his head in the door. Burt gives Blaine a pat on the shoulder and stands up to leave. Kurt smiles at him as he walk past. Burt thinks they'll be okay.

And it turns out that he's right. After a long talk that night, the boys seem closer than ever. Blaine goes to McKinley on Monday to perform a song for Kurt. Burt hadn't ever heard the song before, but Kurt was getting choked up telling him about it that evening, so Blaine must have chosen well. Blaine starts coming over even more often to make up for no longer seeing Kurt at school. Burt's not really sure how Blaine can afford all the gas he goes through, but doesn't really want to ask about it.

* * *

Kurt loves being back at McKinley. Burt asks every night about Karofsky but Kurt just always says that he knows the guy is sorry, and that he isn't worried at all. Burt hopes that Kurt knows what he's doing.

A few nights later, they're all gathered around the kitchen table eating dinner. Finn's been looking at Kurt and Blaine strangely the whole evening and hasn't said anything at all. When he breaks his silence, the words out of his mouth are strange, even for him.

"Where were you last night around seven, Kurt?"

Literally every jaw at the table drops. Blaine blinks several times. Kurt angles his head to one side and then to the other, as if he can't believe what he just heard.

"I was shopping. Running errands." He says slowly.

Finn nods, looking skeptical.

"Sure, sure. Blaine, did he tell you what his errands were?"

Now Blaine looks as confused as Kurt.

"He did. He didn't need to, but he did anyway."

"And you know every single place he went?" Finn continues.

"Finn, if something is bothering you, why don't you just ask? Stop beating around the bush and get straight to it!" Carole exclaims.

The whole family turns to look at Carole, surprised by her tone.

"I just wanted to make sure everything is okay with you two." Finn mumbled.

"No, you didn't." Kurt says, clearly annoyed. "Something's going on. What is it? Are you not trusting Quinn, so you're transferring it onto my relationship with Blaine?"

"No! Well kinda, but that's not what this is about! I just want to make sure you're not keeping something from Blaine."

Burt can tell from the look on Blaine's face that the kid is trying really hard to not look worried. Kurt looks absolutely furious.

"Let's get this straight, once and for all." Kurt says, his voice substantially lower than normal, in a way that makes him sound dangerous. "There is nothing wrong with Blaine and my relationship. Blaine and I know pretty much everything about each other and I'm not worried in the slightest about the things I don't know about him. The fact that I don't tell you everything, Finn Hudson, does not mean that I am keeping things from my boyfriend. I'm not sure what you think you have on me, but I can assure you that whatever it is, Blaine knows the truth. I also know that Blaine trusts me, just like I trust him. So I suggest that if you want to continue to live happily, you will respect me, you will respect Blaine and you will keep out of situations that you are clearly too oblivious to be able to understand. Now, I'm going to go upstairs with my boyfriend, who I care about more deeply I can express, and we're going to try to forget how rude and hurtful you just were."

"Sam wore that jacket of yours to school!" Finn blurted. "If you're so innocent, then how did he get it? Did you give it to him when you two were at the motel together?"

Burt and Carole could not be more shocked. Burt glances over at Blaine, and is horrified by how upset the boy looks.

"You gave him your jacket?" Blaine nearly shouts. "Why would you do that?"

Burt is just about to explode from worry when suddenly –

"We talked about this!" Blaine says, "That jacket was absolutely wrong for him! It doesn't fit his personality at all! I told you to give him the pullover instead!"

Burt could not be more confused when Kurt kisses Blaine swiftly on the cheek.

"And that is why I'm never taking fashion advice from you again." Kurt says, shaking his head.

"Okay, someone's gonna need to start at the beginning and explain this whole mess to me, because I have no clue what the hell is going on." Burt says loudly, and Carole nods in agreement.

"Sam needed some clothes, so I picked out some of my clothes from last season and collected a few from guys at Dalton to give him. Finn seems to think that I am cheating on Blaine with a straight guy with awful hair and leaving my clothing behind after our sordid activities."

Burt, Blaine and Carole turn to look at Finn, shock on their faces.

"It was the only thing that made sense." Finn mumbled.

"Let's go up to your room and have a nice long chat about respect, okay, Finn?" Carole says, rubbing her forehead with one hand.

As Carole and Finn leave the table and go upstairs, Kurt slides his chair over to get closer to Blaine. He snuggles up to the other boy, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"You weren't actually worried, were you?" Kurt asks gently.

Blaine shrugs, looking at the floor.

"I was trying not to be. He was just really playing into my insecurities." Blaine says softly.

Burt's timing is off, because Kurt's is just about to say something sweet and consoling, when Burt interrupts.

"So what was all that about a motel?" Burt asked.

"Sam doesn't want the Glee kids to know, but his dad lost his job. They lost their house so they're living in a motel temporarily. Sam needed new clothes but they couldn't afford them. He overheard me mentioning to Mercedes about making my spring run to Goodwill, so he asked me if I could maybe bring him some of my stuff. I didn't think he'd want most of my stuff, especially because I thought people might recognize it, so Blaine suggested asking the Warblers. I went over to the motel yesterday evening to drop of the clothes. Quinn's been going over to babysit his siblings while he and his parents are all working."

Burt sighs.

"You kids, it's just one thing after another with all of you."

Blaine and Kurt chuckle a bit at this.

"I'm proud of you, Kurt." Burt says. "You're doing a good thing, helping Sam out."

Blaine pulls Kurt closer to him, and kisses the top of his head.

"You sure are." Blaine adds. "The guys were talking about it today at practice; they were really glad to be able to help. I'm really proud of you, too. I'm sorry I got insecure."

"Well, I'm gonna grab a beer and see what's on TV. You guys can come join me. Or not. Whatever." Burt says, smiling at the two boys.

As he heads to the fridge, he thinks about how much Kurt is like his mom. She'd do anything she could to help someone. Kurt definitely got that from her. It's nice that he's found someone like Blaine who shares that tendency. They sure are well matched, he thinks. He glances over at the boys, who are curled into each other, talking quietly about Sam and his family. Burt decides to suggest to Carole that they take some food over for the Evans family, maybe offer them repairs at cost at the garage. Times are tough and people have got to stick together and help each other out to make it through. He's glad that Kurt and Blaine have figured that out so quickly.

* * *

I hope that this chapter made you laugh! I laughed while writing it! :P

Next up is 'Prom Queen'! Oooooh drama! It might now be up tomorrow, but it should still be fairly soon!

Please review! :)


	9. Prom Queen

Hi everyone! Thanks for your patience! This is the longest chapter so far, so it took a bit longer than all the others! It also has some scenes that I wanted to be sure to do justice, so there was a lot of editing, re-writing and self-doubt!

Thank you so much to bevjima and Aibell for commenting! I really appreciate it (especially considering how long and thoughtful both comments were!)

This is the first chapter I've written that I'm issuing a **trigger warning** for. This chapter includes a description of a **homophobia based hate crime** (Blaine being beaten up at the Sadie Hawkins dance) and a discussion about **self-harm**. Please do not read this chapter if you think either of these may be triggering for you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee!

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Over the nearly eighteen years of Kurt's life, Burt has seen him in some really strange outfits. He's done his best to be cool about whatever Kurt wants to wear. When he banned the knee length sweaters in Kurt's sophomore year, he'd felt really guilty, and decided not to interfere with Kurt's style any more.

But then Kurt decides to wear a kilt to prom. He's made it himself and he is so proud. Burt's shocked.

Not so much about the kilt, because, really he's seen Kurt wear stranger and Burt has picked up enough about fashion to know that Kurt looks good. His shock is more because Kurt might as well have painted a nice big bull's-eye on his chest. Going to a dance with a boy is risky enough, but going wearing a skirt? Burt is really worried.

Finn says he likes it, but Burt has to warn him about the danger to it. Kurt appeals to Blaine for help in the argument but, surprisingly, Blaine sides with Burt. Kurt says something about understanding if Blaine doesn't want to go with him because of what Blaine's gone through, but then storms off upstairs. Blaine looks torn, looking at the stairs as if trying to decide whether to go up and try to resolve the situation, or to let Kurt have a moment to cool off.

"Hey, Finn." Burt says, "Wanna go pop some popcorn? Please?"

Finn looks confused, but must decide not to argue with Burt, because he gets up with a sigh and heads to the kitchen.

"So Blaine," Burt says, muting the TV. "What was Kurt talking about when he said about you having gone through something?"

"I just told Kurt this yesterday, but I went to a dance with a guy right after I came out, and we got the shit beat out of us. There some stuff with that I'm still working on getting over. So going to another dance is scary enough, and it's like what you said, I want to avoid causing trouble."

Burt thinks about this for a while. It's almost as if not a week goes by that Burt doesn't find out about some tragic event or other that Blaine's gone through.

"How badly did they beat you up?" Burt asks.

Blaine looks away, really uncomfortable. He doesn't reply right away.

"I haven't told Kurt details, mainly because I know how much it would upset him." Blaine says softly, making eye contact with Burt. "Luckily, they weren't armed at all, so they didn't do as much damage as they might have. There were three guys and there was one holding each of us while the last guy was beating us. We both had to go to the hospital. We were both two huge bruises, really. They dislocated my shoulder when they grabbed me and broke a few of my ribs. I'm gonna have to tell Kurt about that at some point, because there's a huge scar on my chest from where they had to go in to mend a rib."

Burt cringes at this. He had a broken rib back in highschool during his football days, and it was really painful. Blaine is shaking slightly as he tells the story, clearly reliving the awful experience. Burt feels sick just hearing it.

"They were verbally abusing us, too. I heard everything you can imagine; I was called every filthy name. Jake, the guy I went with, he had most of the same injuries, but instead of the shoulder, he actually had a concussion, from when they threw him to the ground when they ran. That was just so scary because I couldn't get him to wake up, even when we were on the way to the hospital. He was okay and all, but after that he never spoke to me again. He blamed me, since I asked him to the dance. He actually went back into the closet, and told people that I had blackmailed him into going with me. That made the bullying even worse for me."

"Bud, that's – it's –" Burt pauses, shaking his head. "That's just so awful. I can't even imagine. Is that why you went to Dalton?"

Blaine looks at his lap for a moment before answering, picking at something on his wrist.

"I actually didn't go to Dalton for another few months. The school did a few things to make sure that I wasn't in any physical danger, but the harassment continued. I tried really hard to stick it out, but it – it ended up really messing with my head."

Burt's heart breaks as he listens, the worry he felt when he saw Blaine start favouring his left wrist intensifying. All the research he's done over the years when worried about Kurt is suddenly flooding through his mind.

"Blaine" he asks softly. "Bud, I need you to tell me something, okay?"

Blaine nods, his eyes wide. Burt takes a deep breath before continuing, keeping his eyes on Blaine.

"Have you ever self-harmed?"

Blaine is silent and utterly still for a long time. Burt's genuinely considering calling Carole or Kurt for back up when Blaine speaks.

"I have. Yes." He answers quietly, eventually looking up to make eye contact with Burt. "I had actually started before then, but the accident made everything worse. I went to Dalton after my mom caught me."

"Have you stopped?" The most important question is out of Burt's mouth before he can stop himself.

"Yes." Blaine says, but cringes as he adds: "Mostly."

"Mostly?" Burt repeats, his voice low, concern rising again.

"I, uh, well that was a couple of years ago and I relapsed a lot when I was getting settled into Dalton. I've been a lot better in the past year or so but every now and then something gets to me and it's like no time has passed at all."

"When was the last time?" Burt demands, leaning in towards the boy.

"Burt…" Blaine says, looking away. "I don't – I really –"

"Blaine. Tell me now." Burt says, his voice commanding.

"Three months ago. When Kurt and I had that fight after Rachel's party."

Burt is feeling so many different emotions right now. He's just so sad. Hearing the stuff Blaine has gone through is just overwhelming. The amount of pain the boy has experienced in so few years is just devastating. Burt's mad, too. How didn't he notice this sooner? Blaine was around so much even then! Couldn't he have prevented it? Does Kurt know? What about Blaine's parents? The people at Dalton? Why is this still happening?

It's almost as if Blaine can read his mind, because he lets out a long sigh, scratches the back of his head and starts talking again.

"I know what you're doing. You're blaming yourself. Or maybe you're just trying to find someone to blame. Stop it. Just stop it. Everyone knows, even Kurt. Sometimes relapses just happen. I went and told one of the Warblers afterwards because I felt so guilty. They convinced me to phone my parents and I went back to the therapist I had seen before."

Burt's somewhat relieved by this, but is still far from comfortable.

"I, well, I told Kurt two weeks ago. The night he decided to go back to McKinley. I, uh, I'd actually been thinking about cutting when you came in to talk to me. I was trying to figure out if I could do it without getting caught, but then I realized that Kurt would find out whether or not I told him. I realized that someday he'd see my wrists, and that I really ought to tell him before he found out for himself. So when he came up, I told him."

Burt is so relieved that they had managed to intervene, even if only just that one time. He is also glad to hear that Kurt already knows, because Burt doesn't think that he could or would keep something like that from his son. Also, having Kurt as a support system will most likely help Blaine.

"He was great about it." Blaine says. He sees that Burt looks confused, so he continues. "Kurt was. When I told him. He got me to show him my scars and he –" Blaine is starting to choke up, and dammit, Burt is, too.

"He kissed every single one and he told me how beautiful I am. And that he thinks I'm perfect and to call him any time, day or night, if I need him." Blaine is openly crying now and Burt's not much better. Burt is just in awe of his son, at how well he's handling all this.

Blaine looks up at Burt, and wipes his eyes.

"Burt, I –" He stumbles over his words a bit, frowning in concentration. "Sir, I, I know it seems soon and all but I, I love your son. I haven't told him yet, but I will soon. He is the best thing in my life and I just love him so much."

Blaine gets progressively more confident as he speaks; entirely sure of what he is saying, but slightly nervous about how Burt will respond.

Burt doesn't say anything, but gets up, crosses the room and pulls Blaine into his arms. He hugs the boy for a few long moments, Blaine clinging to him.

"I am just so glad that you two found each other." Burt says, doing his best to keep his voice even.

Unfortunately, that's the moment that Finn returns, popcorn in hand.

"It didn't seem buttery enough so I got some butter from the fridge and – Whoa! What happened in here?" Finn exclaims.

Burt and Blaine pull apart, laughing awkwardly.

"Just – uh – working through some things." Blaine says. Finn nods and, surprisingly, doesn't say anything more. His chat with Carole must have done some good.

"Let's go up and see that boyfriend of yours." Burt suggests to Blaine. "You two have got some compromises to make."

Blaine laughs and grabs some popcorn as they head upstairs.

The conversation is long and everyone gets frustrated at some point or other. It is eventually determined that Kurt will wear the kilt, but the boys will avoid all public displays of affection to be safe. They will not leave each other's side, no matter what. Blaine suggests that they not dance at all unless they feel really safe. Kurt agrees. Allies are listed. Kurt is going to talk to Sue Sylvester and ask her to keep her eyes out for them. He'll talk to Puck and the other Glee jocks to get them to stick around, too. If anything happens, they are to phone Burt straight away and get to a safe place.

The boys are planning to go to the party one of the Glee kids is organizing. Burt 'suggests' to them that they not drink at all, and both agree without any hint of hesitation. They are to be home by one AM and Burt will be waiting up to make sure.

* * *

Prom night arrives in no time at all. Kurt's still getting ready when Blaine arrives, so Burt answers the door. It is clear that the kid is scared out of his mind, so Burt takes him to the living room for a chat. They talk about everything they're doing to ensure the safety of both boys, but Burt reminds Blaine that he doesn't have to go if he decides it's too much. Blaine shakes his head at this, and Burt just reminds him that they can come home whenever they want.

Blaine is somewhat calmer by the time that Kurt announces that he is ready. Finn had already left for Quinn's so Burt, Carole and Blaine all gather at the bottom of the stairs to watch Kurt's decent. Kurt looks fantastic. Burt is sure of this, particularly when he sees the way that Blaine is looking at Kurt. There is so much adoration in the boy's eyes.

Blaine pulls Kurt into a hug when he reaches the bottom of the stairs, kissing him sweetly on the cheek. The boys exchange a few whispered words that Burt doesn't let himself try to decipher. The boys pin on their matching boutonnieres and then it's time to leave. Burt hugs both boys, being careful not to squish their flowers. After a few more words of caution, Burt closes the door behind the boys and moves to the living room window to watch them drive way.

The moment is so emotional for him. His baby boy is going to prom! Kurt's going to prom with someone who loves him. If only his mom was still around to see this. Everything that Burt's always worried about is simultaneously being resolved and intensifying. Resolved because Kurt has found someone who makes him happy. Kurt is not alone. Kurt is experiencing everything that average teenagers get to experience. But Burt is still worried about all the other people of the world. In some ways, it's easier, safer for Kurt to not be in a relationship. How will the jocks react tonight? What about that Karofsky kid?

Thank goodness for Carole. She comes over and wraps a soothing arm around him. She steers him to the couch and comes back in a moment with a beer. Together, they wait, Burt staring at his phone.

After about an hour, Finn comes home furious and shouting. Burt hears something about that Jesse kid and getting kicked out before Finn slams his bedroom door behind him. Carole goes up to resolve that issue, and Burt is left alone. After what feels like years, the phone rings. Burt grabs it and barks out a rough "Hello?" while doing his best not to panic.

"Hi Burt. It's Blaine. Everything is alright. We're both safe."

Burt lets out a long breath.

"I'm just calling to tell you about something that happened. We're on our way to the party now – Kurt's driving – but I thought I should give you an update. There was a bit of trouble at prom – Kurt was crowned prom queen."

Burt swears. Blaine laughs bitterly.

"Yeah, exactly. We were both really upset, but he decided to go up and accept his crown anyways. He – he handled it really well. Incredibly gracefully. The King –"

"Who was King?" Burt interrupts.

"Karofsky." Blaine says flatly. Burt curses again. "He ran off when it came time for the king and queen to dance. So, I, uh. Well, I went over danced with Kurt. We got to dance together, and everyone was watching."

"Then what?" Burt asks, worried.

"Nothing, really." Blaine says, sounding just as surprised as Burt felt. "We danced a bit more and when people were starting to leave, Puck walked us to my car. And now we're, uh, we're turning into the driveway now."

"Okay," Burt says, "Make sure you're home by one! I'm so glad you're okay! See you boys soon!"

"Bye, Burt!" Blaine says as he hangs up.

Burt is so relieved to hear that his boys are safe. He's absolutely appalled with the whole prom queen stunt, but Kurt seems to be okay, so Burt will set his anger aside to deal with later. He'll want to get the full story tomorrow, maybe during breakfast, but it can wait for now.

The boys are home just before one. They come into the living room, tell Burt that they are tired, and say that they'll see him in the morning. Both boys hug Burt good night, and then head upstairs. When Burt goes up to bed, he notices that the door to the guestroom is open, and the bed is empty. Hushed voices can be heard from Kurt's room, followed by giggles. The next morning the boys come down to breakfast wearing rumpled pyjamas and sweet smiles on their faces. As Burt watches them chat over coffee and occasionally feed each other bites of scrambled egg, he decides not to mention the whole prom queen debacle. Not today, when they're so entirely wrapped up in each other. But then again, Burt thinks to himself, aren't they always?

* * *

Please leave comments!


	10. New York

Hi everyone! Sorry for disappearing for such a long time! I'd tell you about life getting crazy, but I'm sure you know what I mean! Anyways, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has subscribed, favourite or commented, particularly: Ijustwantyoutoknow, bevjima, KlainePotter, The-Magic-Of-Imagination, vegetarianvamps and Isis1995!

**Trigger warning: Brief discussion of self-harm.** Sorry for not posting this sooner - I hope I didn't hurt anyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee; I am just a fan.

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Before Burt knows it, the New Directions are leaving for Nationals. Blaine comes to the airport with them to see Kurt off and tries to hide the tears in his eyes as Burt and Carole drive him home. As Blaine gets out of the car when they drop him off, Burt offers a consoling, "He'll be back soon, buddy." Blaine only nods in response.

The next evening, there's a knock on the door, and sure enough, it's Blaine, duffle bag at his feet. He mumbles something about not being able to sleep, and maybe, would it be possible if, just this once, he could stay over? Burt lets him in before Blaine's even finished giving his explanation and request, clasping him on the shoulder and asking him if he's hungry. Blaine declines all offers of food and companionship, heading straight up to Kurt's room.

Burt checks in on him after twenty minutes, and finds the kid asleep in Kurt's bed, hugging one of Kurt's pillow's to his chest, nose buried in the fabric as if to trick his sense into believing that Kurt is with him.

Burt covers the boy with a blanket from the foot of the bed, hoping that Blaine was just missing Kurt, and that there was no larger problem behind his visit. Burt keeps the master bedroom door open slightly, planning to keep one ear listening through the night.

Morning comes and Burt finds Kurt's bedroom empty. Blaine is in the kitchen, making a lunch for himself and what looks like breakfast for Burt and Carole.

"Oh, uh, morning." Blaine says awkwardly when he sees Burt. "The eggs are almost ready and there's toast on the table."

Burt pours himself some orange juice and sits down at the table. He takes a piece of toast.

"This is real thoughtful of you, Blaine." Burt says cautiously, as he butters his toast. He notices a slight blush appear on Blaine's cheeks.

Blaine stirs the pan of eggs for a moment and then turns towards Burt, a winning and charming smile on his face. Burt finds it unsettling.

"I just – I wanted a way to thank you for letting me stay over last night. I know that it must have been -"

"Blaine." Burt interrupts. "I've told you. You're always welcome here. No matter what. I would say no questions asked, but I actually do have a few."

Blaine nods, emptying the pan of eggs onto a plate, carrying it to the table and then sitting down across from Burt.

"I had a fight with my dad." He volunteers. "It wasn't bad or anything, just the usual disagreement and then I was going to call Kurt like I always would, but then I realized that we'd probably get charged like crazy for the long distance. So I tried to just, like, fall asleep early but I just couldn't sleep. So I thought I'd come here and see if anyone was home."

"I'm glad you did, you know." Burt says gently. "Not that you had the fight but I'll get to that. But I'm glad you came here, that you knew you were okay to."

Blaine smiles weakly, and the expression on his face makes Burt remember a conversation they had a week or two earlier.

"Were you thinking about cutting at all?" Burt asks, not sure he wants to hear the answer.

Blaine cringes, and Burt wonders whether it was due to the accusation or actually being correct. He doesn't have to wonder long.

"A bit. I mean, it's always in the back of my head." Blaine admits. "It was my main coping strategy for so long. It's hard to reprogram your brain with something like that. But then I started thinking, 'Oh, I can't cut my arms because then Kurt will see. I guess I can't cut my stomach either, because what if he wants to go swimming when he gets back?' I was trying to come up with places he wouldn't see –"

Blaine falls awkwardly silent after saying that, but Burt just clears his throat, more concerned with the rest of the story than the exact level of intimacy in his son's relationship.

"So anyways, eventually I realized that even if I could find a way to hide it from Kurt, I wouldn't want to. I don't want to keep secrets from him. And, more than that, I don't want to have to tell him about relapsing. I know how much it would hurt him. I know how disappointed he'd be. So I tried to think of what he would say if I had called him, and I figured he'd tell me to come here. So I did."

Burt really doesn't know what to say to that. He is relieved, so relieved to hear that Blaine hadn't self-harmed. He's glad that Blaine feels safe enough here to be able to come here on his own. He wonders about talking to Kurt sometime soon about helping Blaine get of rid of whatever it is that Blaine uses to hurt himself.

"So you're feeling okay today?" Burt asks.

Blaine nods carefully, and then jumps to his feet, misinterpreting the question.

"I'll just get going now. Again, thank you -"

"Sit down, Blaine." Burt says firmly. "What happened with your dad?"

"Oh, uh," Blaine says softly, trying to find the words as he sits down. "I was just telling him about my plans for the summer – I'm auditioning to be one of the musical entertainers at the theme park. He wants me to work at his office, doing filing or something like that. He was going on about how good it would look on a resume, how I'd meet the right people, how it would pay me better than whatever job I would get as a 'street musician.' And, yeah, all that stuff is true but I don't want to work there. I don't want to be an accountant like him. Why is that so hard for him to understand?"

Blaine puts his head in his hands, pulling at his hair in frustration. Burt is at a loss for what to say, until he realizes that he's already said it.

"Did Kurt ever tell you about the time last year that he started wearing Finn's type of clothes and he went out with that weird girl?"

Blaine nods, confused as to why Burt's bringing it up.

"Did he ever tell you why?" Burt asks.

"He said he was just experimenting." Blaine replies.

"It was my fault." Burt says. "We weren't as close then as we are now, so Kurt thought that if he acted more, I dunno, just less like himself I'd like him better or love him more or something."

Blaine looks nearly comically surprised at this.

"Complete crap, of course." Burt adds. "He was totally wrong. Anyways, he ended up singing this huge dramatic song, and he was just himself and he was so good. And I told him after, his job isn't to impress me. To earn my respect or my love or anything like that. His job is to be himself, no matter what. And my job is to love him, no matter what. No matter who he is. But it's more than that. I can't just love him _in spite of_ the ways we're different, the things we disagree about. That's not good enough. I have to love _everything_ about him, even the things I don't understand."

Blaine has tears running down both cheeks as he listens to Burt.

"So your job, Blaine, is to be yourself. Be who you want to be, do what you want to do. Be respectful, of course, and don't do stupid, reckless things just for the hell of it. But be yourself. It's your dad's job to love you. It's not your job to do things to earn his approval. And I'm sure he loves you. So much. He's probably just trying to help you, so you just have to tell him that while you appreciate what he's doing and you're grateful and all, it's just not what you wanna do."

* * *

Blaine leaves a short while after the conversation, still mumbling thank yous, but now for the advice, as well. Kurt emails Burt that night, saying that the New Directions did not win – didn't even make the top ten and that, well, Finn and Rachel are particularly unpopular at the moment. Burt decides he'll deal with that later.

Blaine, of course, goes back to the airport with Burt and Carole. He's bouncing in his seat, full of anticipation and nervous energy. Blaine's on his feet before Burt even sees the New Directions and is breaking into a run when Burt finds his son in the crowd. Burt watches as Kurt's face lights up at the sight of his boyfriend and the two boys share an eager hug. Watching the reunion, one would think that they had been apart for months.

The ride home is uncomfortable. Kurt is eagerly telling Blaine about every second of the trip, but seems to be putting a lot of effort into ignoring Finn. When Kurt asks if Burt would drop him and Blaine off at The Lima Bean, Burt says yes without giving it a second thought. Carole has no luck getting Finn to talk on the ride home, but Burt's sure that she'll be able to fix whatever mess Finn's made for himself.

Kurt and Blaine come home about an hour later, giggling their whole way up the stairs and closing the door to Kurt's room with a thud behind them. Burt goes out to mow the lawn, and wonders if he might want to bump forward a certain conversation.

The next day, Kurt tells Burt that Blaine had said those three, all-important words. Burt doesn't need to ask if Kurt said them back, because he can tell by the way Kurt's eyes are shining. So instead of saying anything at all, Burt pulls his first son to him, hugs him tightly and pats him on the back in congratulations.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I plan to do a chapter or two set during the summer, and then it's on to season three! That should provide a lot of opportunities for behind-the-scenes scenes because Klaine's story line was so neglected at times.

Please comment!


	11. Summer: Part 1

Burt had never been fond of summer vacation. Being a single parent for ten years meant that Burt had three choices during the summer: take time off, bring Kurt to the shop with him or ship his kid off to someone else for the day. By the time Kurt was thirteen, he'd convinced Burt enough that he was old enough to stay home on his own. He was an independent kid who didn't mind being on his own but Burt felt awful leaving him alone for eight hours at a time. Yup, Burt never felt like a worse father than in the summer.

This summer, however, would be different. Not only was he no longer a single parent (Wooo-hoo!) but Kurt had a brother and a boyfriend to keep him company. Carole wouldn't be around consistently during the day, but her shifts were sporadic enough to keep her at the house fairly often. Blaine did get that job at the theme park, so he wouldn't be around too much. And Finn? Well, he would have been perfectly content to spend two full months playing video games in his underwear while eating all of the food in the house.

Burt decided to offer Kurt and Finn both part time jobs at the shop. They could make some money to supplement the frugal allowance they received and actually spend their day doing something productive. Surprisingly, Finn took to the shop with zeal. Carole told Burt one evening that she hadn't seen him take to something so naturally since he started eating solid food as a baby.

Burt hoped that Kurt would enjoy the opportunity every bit as much as Finn, especially considering his familiarity with the shop, but Burt was ultimately disappointed. Kurt had built a life for himself so separate from the shop that he was often caught daydreaming while changing the oil in clients' cars. Eventually, Burt set him to work re-organizing the office space and the break room. While Burt hoped that Kurt would enjoy his new interior design project, the relocation was more to prevent him from accidentally chopping off a finger or two from lack of focus.

It's mid-July when Burt notices a change in Kurt. He's moody and sarcastic – much like he'd been before the remarkable transformation he went through shortly after meeting Blaine. Blaine's still around a fair bit, but he rarely stays over anymore, and more often than not, leaves just after eight in the evening. He's working early in the morning, apparently, and is finding it really hard to get enough sleep.

The less Blaine is around, the more difficult it is to be around Kurt. Burt's noticed that even when Blaine is there, Kurt's still more caustic than usual. Burt can tell that Blaine is doing everything he can to not feel hurt by it.

The night that Burt overhears Kurt shouting "Well maybe you'd rather stop coming over then, huh? Spend more time with your precious friends?" he knows he has no choice but to intervene. He charges up the stairs and throws the door open. He is surprised to find Kurt and Blaine on their feet, their stances hostile and angry tears on both of their faces.

Burt's not too sure what to do. He wants them to talk about it, but they're so upset right now he's not sure it would do any good. He's sure, however, that thirty minutes after being separated they'll both regret this mess and want to sort it out. He can't send Blaine home, having the kid drive in this state couldn't be safe. Plus, there's only one place that Burt thinks is safe for Blaine to be when he's upset, and that's under the Hummel roof.

"Blaine, you go to the kitchen. Get Carole to make you tea or something."

Blaine opens his mouth, perhaps to argue, but instead just shakes his head and hurries past Burt out of the room and down the stairs. Now that Blaine is gone, Kurt is directing all of his hostility towards his dad.

"Sit down, Kurt." Burt orders, pointing to the bed. "What was this about?"

"Blaine is just being completely unreasonable!" Kurt exclaims quickly. "He's working all the time, crazy hours, and I never get to see him anymore. So what does he decide to do? He's going to go spend his first weekend off at a cottage up north with some of the Warblers! He's picking them over me! _I'm_ his boyfriend. He's supposed to be spending time with _me_."

"When did you last see Mercedes?" Burt asks.

"Yesterday. But that's different. Blaine was working then." Kurt says in an annoyed tone, as if he can't believe that his own father is taking his boyfriend's side.

"So if you were the one working seventy hours a week, would you go all of summer without seeing her?"

"It's not the same!" Kurt says, his voice getting louder.

"Yes, it is!" Burt insists. "Tell me why it's not!"

"BECAUSE I'D NEVER LEAVE BLAINE FOR HER!" Kurt shouts.

Burt is stunned. He doesn't even say anything for the longest time. Kurt seems to deflate entirely, fresh tears appearing in his eyes.

"Let me get this straight." Burt says finally, rubbing the back of his neck. "You don't want Blaine spending time with the Warblers, his closest friends for years, because you think he's going to cheat on you?"

Kurt shakes his head.

"Not cheat on me. But, like, realize he'd rather be with them. Or go out with one of them. He's known them longer. They're like family. They'll be at a cottage so they're going to go swimming for sure. I bet all of the guys are going to be shirtless. It took him so long to ask me out, who's to say that he won't change his mind about wanting me?"

Burt can barely believe his ears. Kurt's always been fairly insecure, hiding it underneath a mask of superiority but Burt can't believe that he is this insecure about his relationship.

"What did Blaine tell you at The Lima Bean the day you got home from Nationals?" Burt asks.

Kurt looks a bit confused, but still answers.

"That he loves me."

"Right. He loves you. He _loves_ you. That's a huge deal. Do you think he was lying? Do you think he didn't mean it?"

Kurt shakes his head quickly.

"He loves _you._ Not some guy in the Warblers. Not some better guy that might turn up eventually. He loves _you._ So what are you worried about?"

Kurt shakes his head again and looks up at Burt with sad eyes.

"It's not that simple, Dad." He says softly.

"Oh yes it is." Burt replies. "You know why? Because I bet you anything that Blaine's sitting downstairs deciding that he won't go to cottage, just so he can make you happy. And when you tell him all this - which you will, I'll make sure of that – he's going to be upset and wonder what he did wrong, wondering why you don't trust him. _He loves you_. And that's that."

Kurt still doesn't look entirely convinced but manages a vague nod.

"So I'm gonna go downstairs to the kitchen, give you a moment alone, make sure he's okay and then send him up so you can talk, alright?"

Kurt nods again.

"Thanks, Dad. I – I'm glad that you care enough to help with this." Kurt says quietly, looking at his feet.

Burt chuckles a bit and pulls Kurt into a hug.

"It's cause I love you. Both of you. Simple as that."

* * *

Thank God for Carole. She's got Blaine sitting down at the kitchen table, mug of tea in hand, plate of cookies in front of him, a comfortable smile on his face. It's impossible to frown when Carole gives you cookies.

Burt pulls up a chair and sits down at the table with the two of them. The smile slides off of Blaine's face.

"So we just had a nice long chat." Burt says, not sure where to begin. He doesn't want to recap it entirely; it's important for the boys to be able to communicate and sort out their problems on their own.

"Is he really mad at me?" Blaine asks, concern all over his young face.

"No," Burt says, shaking his head. "You two have a lot to talk about, but I'm sure you'll be fine. He's just – I know Kurt always seems put-together and everything, but he can get real insecure, too."

Blaine looks a bit surprised.

"I know you think that he's completely invulnerable, but that's only because he wants you to think that. And that's the thing about being in a relationship. Even if you're the strongest person alive, your partner will always know your vulnerabilities. It's what creates trust in a relationship – that you know better than anyone else in the world how to hurt the other person, but it's the last thing you would ever do."

Blaine nods, a little bit lost. Burt did go off on a tangent, after all.

"So just be really open with your feelings when you talk. That's the best thing you can do."

Blaine nods one more time.

"Should I – Can I go up now, then?" he asks, still looking fairly anxious.

"Yeah, I think so." Burt answers. "He's still upset, but that oftentimes makes it easier to talk to him."

Blaine thanks Carole for the tea and cookies and then disappears up the stairs.

Carole turns to Burt.

"First fight, huh? Think they'll be able to sort things out?" she asks, not looking anywhere near as concerned as her words would suggest.

Burt smiles and kisses her on the top of her head.

"There's no doubt in my mind."

* * *

Thanks to everyone who has read the last chapter! I'm glad to know that my unexpected hiatus didn't destroy my readership! Thank you so much to KlainePotter, forgettheworld, Coffee-and-klainbows713, bevjima and .Riso for commenting!

Coffee-and-klainbows713 suggested that I write a one-shot about the scene wherein Blaine shows Kurt his scars for the first time, which would have been at the end of the Born this Way Chapter. I would LOVE to write this, and may get to it eventually. However, I don't really think I write Kurt all that well so I'm not sure how good the fic would be. Which brings me to a larger point. If anyone who is reading this story wants to write one-shots, whether that specific scene or otherwise, as part of this verse, I would completely LOVE that. Please link back to 'Burt and the Kid' if you do choose to do that. Also, please leave a comment or send me a PM so that I can read it!

Also, I don't think that I will resume my other fic "The Keys to a Healthy Relationship." Reading it again now, I'm just not all that happy with it, not to mention it no longer fits with some of my headcannon.

Finally, I have created a tumblr! *cheers* It can be found at sarahlovesglee . tumblr Just take out the spaces. Feel free to follow me (I'll follow back!)

Please continue to leave reviews – they mean so much to me!


	12. Summer: Part 2

When Burt and Carole first started house hunting for their newly-blended family, there was one main thing they disagreed about: whether or not they should look for a home with a pool. To Carole, having a pool in Ohio, where they could only use it for a quarter of the year, maximum, was beyond ridiculous. To Burt, a pool, while frivolous, decreased the amount of grass in the backyard that he would need to mow during those three months, not to mention providing a new family activity. Ultimately, they decided to pick whichever house suited their family the best, entirely ignoring the backyard. The house that they bought did, in the end, have a pool. By the time of the heat wave in July, even Carole viewed the pool with unadulterated adoration. Most of the month is passed with the family in the pool, lounging on a colourful selection of inflatable rafts.

By the time August rolls around, Burt can barely remember Kurt and Blaine's fight or how they managed to resolve it. Blaine offered to ask the guys if Kurt could come along – once a Warbler, always a Warbler, after all – but Kurt rejected that offer gracefully. Blaine needed to spend time with his friends, Kurt had decided. He would see Blaine when he got back. Blaine reserved the next few weekends for Kurt and Kurt alone. Having said that, Burt often joked that Blaine was merely coming over for the pool.

One particularly hot day in August, Burt comes home to find the house empty. Carole is working and Finn is over at Rachel's. Burt doesn't think too much about Kurt not being there – he was probably just making a run to the store for groceries for dinner or something like that. Burt puts on his swim shorts, excited to be able to cool off in his own pool, with no noisy family to disrupt his hour or so of much needed serenity.

Burt is so caught up in his mental recitation of "I have a pool. A pool of my own. Isn't that nice? My own pool," that he didn't notice his company until he was just a few feet away from the diving board.

Blaine and Kurt are wrapped completely around each other in the deep end, making out desperately as Blaine presses Kurt into the pool's wall. Burt has seen the boys making out before, but something about this is so much more intimate than the other times. It might be the fact that they are both soaking wet or the fact that they are so very close to naked, but Burt doesn't let himself analyse it.

"Hey! Get out of my pool! " The words are out of Burt's mouth before he can even think them.

Kurt and Blaine jolt with shock verging on panic, and are out of the pool in the blink of an eye.

"Dad, I - " Kurt begins, trying to defuse the tension.

"Go inside the house. Put your clothes on, and wait for me at the kitchen table."

And then, since Burt has learned how things work, he adds:

"Everything's okay, Blaine. I'm not mad at you. There's just some things we have to talk about."

Blaine nods, his eyes wide. The boys hurry into the house. Burt dives into his pool, trying to clear his head.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the three men are all sitting at the kitchen table. Kurt looks annoyed and Blaine still looks anxious. Burt sighs. He'd probably over-reacted.

"So, um, I think it's about time we had the second part of The Talk." Burt begins, scratching the back of his head.

The looks on the boys faces is enough to tell Burt that they disagree.

"Sir, we haven't – " Blaine says.

"Oh my God, Dad!" Kurt interrupts.

"Done anything yet. Well, then again, there was that one time – "

"BLAINE!"

Kurt's eyes widen. Blaine seems to realize what he just said. The boys look at each other for a moment. Burt doesn't try to figure out what the look means.

"Whatever." Burt says. "I don't want to know. I really don't. I'd told you to come talk to me when you were thinking about becoming intimate, and whether or not you think it's time, we're going to talk now. I'd love for you to wait for a good long time, but since you're sharing a bed under my roof, I have to make sure that whatever happens, whenever it happens, you'll both be safe."

"You two are going to go to the free clinic tomorrow to get tested. You will go together because I've heard it's nerve-wracking, even if you don't have cause for concern. So you're going to support each other. No matter what the results are, we're going to be talking about them when you get home."

"I'm sure that between the two of you, you know everything you'll need to know about the logistics, so I'm just going to skip over that part. Whatever happens, whatever you do, you need to know how important all this is. It means stuff. I'm sure by now you've figured that out to an extent. So whatever happens, you need to make sure that you're on the same page for things. Communication is so important. Anything happens, you talk before, during and after."

"You two are the only two people in this world who have the right to know anything about what you do, or decide what it is that you do. You two are making all the rules for this. As long as you're being safe and you both want it, no one else has any right to say anything about it, ever. It's not about anyone else but you two. Just keep in mind that it will change your relationship. You might not notice the changes at first, but they will be there. It shifts your focus a bit, changes your priorities some and makes you more connected to each other. So I guess what I'm saying is just to really take care of each other through everything, and just let yourselves have a wonderful, special experience. Whatever you decide to do or not do."

Kurt and Blaine have been entirely silent through the one-sided conversation. They both look thoughtful and vaguely uncomfortable.

"Thanks, Burt." Blaine finally says. "We'll remember that."

Kurt nods.

"Oh, about the pool!" Burt adds, having completely derailed his own train of thought. "Just keep in mind that the fence isn't that tall. Any of our neighbours could look out their second floor windows and see whatever you're doing. Anyone could come home at any time, too. Also, you share that pool with the whole family. So don't do anything there that you wouldn't want, say, Finn to do with Rachel."

The scandalized looks on the boys faces is enough to tell Burt that his message hit home.

"Now go on, get out of here." Burt concludes, waving his hands in a shooing motion.

The boys jump up from the table and hurry out of the room. Burt knows that they're about to have a long talk to their own. He hopes it goes well.

* * *

Two days later, Burt and the boys are back at the kitchen table. Kurt and Blaine had got tested, and, as was expected, both boys are clean. They'd had a fairly traumatic experience waiting for their results: although both boys were fairly confident in their status, the knowledge of how important the tests were really got to them. Kurt had mentioned, face bright red, that they'd both burst into tears when they got their results. Burt was encouraged by how seriously they were taking things. He felt sure that that moment alone would serve as a life-long reminder of the importance of protection.

Burt didn't have all that much more to say, having covered it all in the days before. He congratulated both boys on being clean, told them to remember everything he'd said, and reminded them that they could come to him at any time if they needed help or advice of any kind, and that he would do anything he could to help. Both boys let Burt hug them, and as he kissed Kurt on the top of his head, Burt couldn't believe how quickly his son had grown up.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I struggled a lot with this chapter. I think I need to stick to just cannon events, and not make up my own! I found it really difficult to write scenes with Burt telling them all about safety etc that didn't sound like he was encouraging them to have sex. I hope that I didn't make him sound creepy!

Next chapter will be The Purple Piano Project. I just re-watched the episode to help with writing it, and, well, let's just say it's quite prophetic of the season. Finn's a dick to Blaine. Kurt comforts Rachel while he's the one that actually deserves to be upset. Etc, etc. Also, I really love Skank!Quinn. Anywho…

Thanks to bevjima and forgettheworld for commenting!


	13. The Purple Piano Project

As far as Burt knows, not that he's been hunting for information, Kurt and Blaine have made no great leaps into intimacy after discovering that they are both clean. Burt's glad of this – he was worried that having The Talk with them would be seen as Burt giving them permission which would then be seen as encouragement. He should have known his boys were smarter than that.

September arrives and brings with it the return of school for Burt's three boys. The closer the summer drew to a close, the more frequently Blaine and Kurt could be heard debating which school Blaine should return to. After their fight in July, Kurt seemed to have learned a valuable lesson about not trying to control his boyfriend and his decisions. Instead of resorting to begging, pleading or asking "But don't you love me?" Kurt was helping Blaine draw up pros and cons list. Eventually it was agreed that Blaine would make his own decision, no later than the first day of school.

Burt honestly doesn't understand why it is such a big deal to them. Being in different grades, they wouldn't have any classes together. The most they could see each other would be at lunch and Glee. But Glee was important to both of them. Competition was also important to both of them. Perhaps that's what the problem was. Both boys were so used to going into each day fighting against the world, they would find it that much harder to compete against each other. They'd made a team all their own, they were their own best support, their own best ally. Competing against each other would go against so much of their relationship.

Burt chuckled to himself. If Blaine was to stay at Dalton, he'd probably be sleeping over even more with the explanation of "We never see each other anymore!" However, if Blaine was to switch to McKinley, he'd probably be staying over just as much, saying "We'll just head to school together tomorrow morning! We'll carpool!" Oh well, Burt thought, they'd figure it out.

* * *

Sure enough, things get sorted out and Blaine decides to transfer to McKinley. When the boys come home that day, they aren't anywhere near as cheerful as Burt would have expected. Turns out that Blaine's big debut performance got commandeered by the Cheerios, who set fire to one of Schuester's prop pianos. Burt got why that upset Blaine so much – the kid was very self-conscious and tuned into how people perceive him. A big musical number intended to show his allegiance to his new school and new Glee club ended up making him look even more like an intruder than before.

Burt could tell that there was something more to it than that. So he asks.

"Anything else bothering you?"

They're sitting on the couch in the living room, watching the game. Kurt was making some elaborate after-school snack. Blaine looks over his shoulder before answering.

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay then." Burt says, scratching his head. "Have you told Kurt, at least?"

Blaine cringes a bit, as if annoyed by Burt's perceptiveness.

"It's probably nothing." Blaine says eventually. "Just still learning my place in public school life. I'm sure I'll get it all figured out soon enough."

"And if you don't?" Burt asks, his concern getting the better of him.

Blaine doesn't seem to have an answer for this. He opens his mouth to reply, but closes it again. Burt's slightly frustrated. Surely by now Blaine should know that he can't freak Burt out. That no matter what he says, he'll still be accepted.

"If you don't figure things out," Burt says. "Please tell me. We'll work it out."

Concern – or is it disagreement? – crosses Blaine's face.

"Whatever it is." Burt adds. "No matter what."

Finally Blaine nods.

"Sure, okay." He says, too casual, his eyes focuses firmly on the TV.

"Okay." Burt says. He's pushed enough.

* * *

Kurt's having a weird first week back to school. He's discovered that his dream school – Julliard – doesn't even have a dramatic arts program. He'd quickly replaced Juilliard with "NYADA," whatever that was. Burt hadn't been able to get Kurt to talk slowly enough to make his rambled explanation coherent. Whatever NYADA was, Kurt had gone to an event to meet other future students with Rachel.

When he comes home, he walks through the front door, pulls out his phone and takes the stairs two at a time, saying "Blaine? You there? Cool. I have to tell you something."

Burt waits about twenty minutes before going up to find out what happened.

Apparently, NYADA is only the very best school for dramatic arts in the country. The event was a mixer for prospective students. Kurt and Rachel were very much intimidated by the competition that they mixed with, but decided to channel their concern into greater determination. Kurt was going to beef up his list of admittedly limited extra-curriculars by running for Senior Class President. Burt tries to not automatically suggest developing Plan B's after hearing how strong the competition is to get into the school. He knows it won't do any good. Once Kurt sets his mind to something, it becomes the only acceptable option. Not always the healthiest way of looking at things, really.

Then again, Kurt was really talented. And a hard worker. Quite the combination, really. Kurt wouldn't rest until he felt that he had done literally everything he could to get into that school. And wouldn't it be amazing if he did? After all, Kurt really did deserve a win.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so short! If you couldn't figure out what Burt and Blaine's discussion was about, it was about Blaine feeling like Finn didn't want him in Glee club.

Thanks to bevjima, rissa337 and Matilda for commenting!

Matilda, in her comment, accused me of Rachel bashing. I would like to apologize to anyone that might have felt that I was bashing Rachel. I'm a little bit confused as to why, though. I know that I had Burt make a few less than enamored comments about Rachel, such as thinking it was mean of her to go out with Blaine when she knew Kurt liked him. These comments are coming from Burt's, admittedly extremely biased, perspective. I don't think any of Burt's remarks were unreasonable or particularly unkind. In my last author's note I mentioned that Kurt often comforts Rachel when he is also upset. This wasn't intended so much to be a jab at Rachel as a comment about the fact that Kurt's bad year of disappointment starts from the very first episode. Anyways! I hope that clears things up a bit!

Take care and please leave comments! :)


	14. I Am Unicorn

For about a week or so in September, every time Burt comes home, he immediately hears Kurt and Blaine doing the same thing: practicing for their West Side Story auditions. Kurt had decided to go out for Tony, the leading male role, to better his chances of getting into that school he likes. Blaine was going for Bernardo. They spent all their free time practicing together, discussing things Burt didn't understand like phrasing, breath control and intricate choreography. Burt was happy to see them so excited, so driven. They were entirely united in their cause, switching evenly between each of their audition songs.

When Kurt comes home the day of his big audition with a frown on his face, Burt is surprised.

"What happened? How was the audition?" Burt asks.

Blaine comes in the front door right after Kurt.

"He was amazing! Just fantastic! He nailed all of his moves, he was pitch-perfect and they were totally blown away by the swords, of course!"

Blaine's nearly jumping up and down he's so happy for Kurt. This only confuses Burt further.

"Then what - ?" Burt trails off, looking at Kurt, who sighs.

"Sit down, Blaine." He says, angling his head towards the couch. Blaine sits down, an unsettled look on his face.

"I nailed it, yeah. But I…" Kurt sighs again, looking away from his dad and his boyfriend. Both are becoming concerned. "I was listening in on the directors later."

Both Burt and Blaine wince.

"You can scold me for that later, Dad, I don't care." Kurt adds. "They thought my performance was great, just not for Tony. They said I – "

At this point, Kurt's voice gets choked up, and he stops talking. Blaine immediately moves to pull Kurt towards him, comforting him best he can. Kurt sniffs, and finally says.

"It's the same thing it always is. I'm too effeminate."

Burt and Blaine both let out low noises of disappointment.

"Did they say that?" Blaine asks. Burt thinks that the other boy is trying to find a loop-hole in whatever they said. Somehow make it nicer. It's a sweet gesture, but it backfires.

"No, they didn't." Kurt sobs suddenly. "It would have been better if they had. They said… They – " Kurt hiccups. Blaine rubs his back consolingly.

"They said I was 'too delicate' and 'too much of a lady.'"

Once the words are out, Kurt visibly deflates, his sobs increasing. Burt's heart is breaking watching him, and judging by Blaine's expression, he's feeling about the same.

"Why?" Kurt asks, beginning to ramble through his tears. "How could she say that? It was Coach Beiste! She's grown up being called sir and things like that! She knows how much it hurts! I've never been so humiliated in my whole life. But look at me crying my eyes out, they must be right –"

"Kurt. Stop." Blaine interrupts. He shifts so that he can look into Kurt's eyes. "You listen to me. They are wrong. They are completely wrong. You are not a girl and you are not delicate. You are so strong and so brave and so kind. You are a man. They are the ones that are wrong, not you. There is nothing wrong with you."

Burt is thoroughly impressed with Blaine right now. With all of Blaine's challenges in life, Burt had forgotten that, when they first met, Blaine was more of a support for Kurt than the other way around. Burt had been entirely oblivious to such a core part of their relationship. It wasn't just that Blaine needed Kurt. No. They needed each other. Desperately.

Blaine looks up at Burt quickly, a very specific look on his face. Burt knows it's a request for privacy. He grants it, leaving the room with a nod, but he stays just a few feet away from the door, still listening.

"Kurt." Blaine says softly, having pulled his still-crying boyfriend into his lap. "There's something else, isn't there?"

Kurt starts crying harder, which is all the confirmation Blaine needs that he's right.

"Do you want to tell me, sweetie?" Blaine asks, his voice gentle. He's started rocking Kurt slightly. Kurt's got one hand fisted in Blaine's shirt, clinging to him.

"Whatever it is, Kurt, I really want to talk about it. I know you're upset, but we both know you won't feel better at all until you talk about it."

Kurt nods, almost imperceptibly.

"Do you want me to ask you questions until you're ready to talk?"

Kurt nods again.

"Okay then, let's see. Is it – about Glee?"

Kurt takes a moment, then shakes his head.

"Is it about us?"

Kurt starts crying harder again. Blaine suddenly has tears in his eyes, but he swallows quickly, forcing them away and forcing himself to stay composed.

"Okay, thank you for telling me. Is it about… Hmm… Is it about what I was wearing today? Did I pick the wrong bow-tie?"

Kurt lets out a little snort.

"Blaine, I picked your outfit. There couldn't be anything wrong with it." Kurt whispers. Burt has to strain to hear it.

"Are you ready to tell me now?" Blaine asks softly. He kisses Kurt on the forehead.

"I just – " Kurt frowns, biting his lip.

"Go on." Blaine encourages.

"You do want me, right?" Kurt finally says, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"WHAT?" Burt thinks.

"What?" Blaine says, his face confused. "How can you -? Why do you - ? Yes, yes of course I do, Kurt! Why would you ever doubt that?"

"Because you're gay!" Kurt says, his voice growing stronger. "You like men, Blaine! And sure, yeah, technically I do count as a man, but you could have someone so much more manly, someone that's strong and doesn't have a high pitched voice…"

"Kurt. That is absolutely ridiculous. I want you. I don't want anyone else. You don't think I don't know what's out there? I do. But I don't want that. I don't want some random body-builder whose junk is tiny because he takes so many steroids. I don't want a guy who can bench press me. I don't want a guy so strong that subconsciously I'd be connecting him to my bullies that beat me up. I don't want a guy with a really deep voice or a guy that has to shave twice a day because he has so much facial hair. I don't want that, Kurt! I just want you. You are perfect to me. Just like the Pink song. So what if you're not perfect as other people would define it. You are perfect to me."

"You are the perfect height. I love that you are just a little bit taller than me so that I have to look up to kiss you. I love how broad your shoulders are because when you hug me, I feel so safe in your arms. Your arms are just strong enough. They help me feel safe and they help you be able to do all the acrobatics and stuff you love to do. If you were any stronger, your muscles wouldn't be able to fit in all of those long-sleeve shirts you love so much. And even though you're strong, I never have to worry about you hurting me. Remember that time that you were kissing me up against the wall? If you were any bigger that might have really triggered me, but it didn't, because you're perfect."

"I love that we're pretty similar sizes, because I never have to worry about you crushing me or me crushing you when we're making out or if one of us rolls over in bed. I love the colour of your eyes and the way they sparkle when you're happy and darken when you're kissing me. I love your stomach - you know that. There's so much muscle there, but still feels really soft. It's the perfect place for me to put my hand when we're sleeping or my head when we're watching a movie."

"And, finally, I love your voice, Kurt Hummel. I love it because it was the first voice I ever believed when hearing the words "I love you." And it makes you so unique. I know unique is hard, oh I know that, but I promise you that someday it will be worth it. So worth it. And you know what? I bet that it will be the thing that gets you into NYADA. How many counter-tenors do you think audition every year? They are going to be so completely amazed by you. And your dad and I are going to be so proud of you."

Kurt had been silent through this entire speech. His eyes steadily drying and showing more and more adoration as Blaine spoke.

"So just forget about all those stupid things that you think you should be, and just be you. Because I love you. So much."

Kurt leans up to catch Blaine's lips in a kiss. They kiss slowly for quite some time, the kiss all tenderness and gratitude, both boys so incredibly thankful for having each other.

Burt heads to the kitchen, deciding to give the boys the privacy that Blaine had asked for. Burt's thinking about how glad he is that Blaine was there to take care of Kurt when, in a rush, Burt has a sudden realization. This was it. Kurt wasn't really his anymore. He was Blaine's. And that was that. Kurt and Blaine belonged to each other not, whether or not they fully understood it yet. Burt realized that he was no longer the one that Kurt would go to for reassurance or encouragement or help in hard times. Any decision Kurt made would be decided with Blaine in mind. Burt was losing his son – his son who was only eighteen. Still a child, really!

He props himself up against the fridge to steady himself. This was how it should be. And this was, after all, everything he'd ever hoped that Kurt would have. Sure, it was sooner than he'd been thinking, but Blaine had arrived when Kurt needed him most. And really, as much he was losing Kurt, he was gaining Blaine, too. It didn't balance out, but knowing that made the loss a little easier.

There's some sudden noise as the two boys hurry up the stairs, the door to Kurt's bedroom slamming closed behind them. Burt sighs and grabs a beer, going back to the living room and sitting down on the couch to wait for Carole to get home. After all, Kurt's not the only Hummel man who's been feeling the need to cry into their partner's shoulder.

* * *

Thank you for reading! This chapter ran away from me – a lot. I didn't cover half the stuff I wanted to (maybe I'll do a Unicorn Part 2) and this whole scene came out of nowhere for me. I know this chapter isn't as Burt and Blaine focused as many, but I still hope you get as emotional reading it as I did writing it.

Thank you, as always, to bevjima for commenting! I love hearing from you!

As I write this, the story has 9762 views. I cannot believe that something I first wrote for myself has been seen nearly 10 000 times. Thank you so much!


	15. Asian F

I just want to clarify that the opinions that the characters express in this story are not always "correct". Often times the things people think aren't. That's how life is. You grow and you learn. So in the last chapter when Kurt was saying about not being 'manly' he was speaking as a fairly uneducated teenager who doesn't yet understand the way society constructs gender. When Burt says he's losing Kurt, he's also wrong. Kurt will always be his son, and will always need his Daddy. Especially when he needs money for those amazing new shoes! ;)

Tl;dr Sometimes characters say things against my opinions/beliefs. They have their own, occasionally erroneous, thoughts.

* * *

Blaine's talk with Kurt didn't do quite as much good as Burt had hoped. Kurt comes to see him at the garage to talk saying that he was tired of being so unmistakeably unique - a unicorn. Burt tries to find a way to reiterate everything Blaine had said without making it clear that he'd been listening in on their private conversation. In the end, he tells Kurt, "You know what they call a unicorn without a horn? A friggin' horse." He later realizes that he actually sounded vaguely profound saying that. Cool.

Burt had hoped that that would be the end of the situation, but he was sadly mistaken. Kurt came home the next day to say that Blaine's audition had concluded with the directors practically begging for Blaine to read for the part of Tony. Kurt said he left before he could see Blaine's answer.

"I just, I couldn't stand to watch. Neither of replies would have made me happy. I mean, if he said he would, I'd feel betrayed. On the other hand, if he refused to go for the part because of loyalty to me, I'd feel guilty for holding him back."

Burt didn't really know what to say.

"I mean," Kurt continued, "I guess there is absolutely no chance that I'll get the part, so it's not at all about him taking it from me. It just such a double standard that they think that he's not too gay to do it – he's ever bit as gay as I am!"

"I think you know how you feel about this, Kurt." Burt says, trying to redirect from the topic of exactly how gay is son's boyfriend is. "You're having to choose between your pride and Blaine. I think we both know which you'll pick."

Kurt agrees, and hurries off to his room. He's planning something, and the next day Burt finds out what. Kurt gives Blaine flowers at school, congratulating him on his audition, and telling him he'll be the perfect Tony. No hidden motive. Just honest congratulation. And when Blaine gets the part, it's announced that Kurt will play Officer Krupke. Kurt's content. But even though this is resolved, Kurt's life is never without some type of crisis or other, so it's only natural that a major problem arises in his campaign.

Rachel Berry, having noticed the interest the school has in Brittany as a female candidate, decides to capitalize on the opportunity to add more to her already over-flowing CV and run for senior-class president. Kurt, wrapped in Blaine's arms on the couch again, tells Burt about how betrayed he feels. It's an awful moment of deja-vu to a few days before.

"I mean, first she destroys my credibility as a leading man by laughing in our scene together, ensuring that I won't get the part as Tony. But that's not enough for her. Not she has to try to take from me the only thing I have left for my application. How can she do that to me?"

Kurt sobs into Blaine's shoulder and Blaine looks up to Burt, his eyes stricken. It's as if Blaine's realized that all of the pretty, kind things he'd said a few days ago weren't enough. That he can do everything he can to help Kurt, he can love Kurt to the moon and back, but it won't be all Kurt needs to feel safe and happy. Burt knows that feeling. It's a feeling he's lived with for the past three years, keeping him awake at night and worried when Kurt is at school. He's always known that Kurt was being bullied, and he's always tried to help, but between Kurt's pleas for independence and the school's reluctance to do anything, Burt's been left feeling completely unable to help.

And now Kurt's safe. And in love. His primary bully gone and his best friend/boyfriend at his side and it is still not quite enough. That's not to say that Kurt's greedy. Not at all. But there's only so much that Burt and Blaine can do to support him. And Burt's watching as Blaine realizes this fact. It's devastating.

"Look, Kurt." Burt finally says, speaking as much to comfort Blaine as his son. "What she did was awful. It was hurtful. I know. I get it. You've had a really hard week. And I know it feels like the end of the world, but it's not. You've got us. You've got a house, you've got a life. You're healthy. I know right now that NYADA seems like the only thing that matters and will ever matter, but it's not. What Rachel did wasn't kind, but it doesn't mean that all of your dreams are destroyed. You could still beat her in the campaign. And even if you don't it's not the end for you. If people with not-so-good marks can get football scholarships because they're really good at football, than why should your extra-curriculars matter if you're really good at performing?"

Kurt sniffles, and Burt can't tell if it got through to him.

"So take tonight to feel bad for yourself. Go ahead. But tomorrow you're going to quit sulking and you're going to get back to work on your campaign and get rehearsing for your part as Officer Krupke. And you're going to do such an amazing job at those that you'll forget about everything else."

Kurt doesn't say anything, but Blaine looks grateful. Burt hopes that if nothing else, his speech helped Blaine understand that sometimes there's nothing he can do but stick around with Kurt until he sorts things out on his own. And that is okay to not be able to help.

Burt leaves the living room and hears Blaine suggest watching Moulin Rouge. Kurt must have agreed because it's not long before Burt hears that one guy from the movie cry out "The hills are aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuuuuuuuusicc."

It's one of the only musicals Burt knows well, partially because it's one of Kurt's favourites, but also because Burt's a bit fond of Nicole Kidman. Burt's not really one to analyse things to death, but as he sits down at the kitchen table he realizes that Blaine picked a good movie. It's about trying to put on a musical but discovering love is more important. Of course, the girl does die at the end, but still. Or maybe Blaine just picked it because it's one of Kurt's favourites. Either way. The kid's pretty good.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Fun fact, I actually wrote a spoiler warning for the Moulin Rouge bit before I realized that it begins "The woman I love is dead…" Whoops.

I'd really like to know people's thoughts on this one. I struggled with writing for this episode, largely because having two chapters of Kurt-against in a row just seemed wonky. I feel like I'm losing Blaine a bit. Thoughts?

Thank you to bevjima and cellowings for commenting! Also, a special shout-out thank you for Nurse Kate. As someone who doesn't have any kids, it's really meaningful to me to hear, from a parent of teens, that I am writing Burt well! So thank you!


	16. Pot o' Gold

When Kurt comes into the garage after school again the next week, it's all Burt can do from saying "What happened _now?_" Turns out, that Principal Figgins idiot cancelled the funding for the school musical after pressure from the crazy cheerleading coach that's running for Congress on a platform of hating the arts. Kurt's stopping by to say that they're selling ads in the programme to cover the cost of putting on the show – a total of something around $2000.

It's incredibly rare that Kurt comes to his dad with a problem that Burt knows how to fix, and that Kurt actually wants help with. Burt's careful with his money, and he knows that this is verging on "throwing money at the problem" but hey, he can't help himself.

Burt gets together a bunch of the guys Kurt had already talked to. Undertakers, mainly – what was Kurt doing talking to them? They decide to split the cost of the production amongst them, something like $400 each, in exchange for full page ads in the programme. Burt's not sure if the ad will actually drive up business for the funeral homes, but it could very well help his own business, and that's good enough for him.

When they go in to tell Figgins, Sue ambushes them outside of the office after their meeting. Burt really admired all that she was doing for Kurt when the bullying was worse, but he knows that she is caustic even when she's being nice to people. Even though he knows this, he is amazed by the viciousness (albeit ridiculousness) of her attacks. He does his best to seem nonplussed, reminding her that "bullies don't have a good track record of messing with the Hummels" and telling her that he would love to see her lose.

When he gets home that night, he's still thinking about it. When Kurt had a pouty stage when he was six, Burt would always say to him "I know you're upset, but what are you going to do? Everyone feels upset sometimes, but not that many people are able to actually do something to make things better." Maybe he ought to take his own advice.

Burt's never been particularly interested in politics. He finds it frustrating. He came from a long line of Republicans, but hearing what the majority of the party thinks of gay people made him less sure of his place. He's a strong, hard-working guy with a family and a business. He's practically the quintessential American man. What if he were to take the chance and run for Congress, too? Surely there are so many other guys that are just like him that would vote for him.

He tells Carole in the most roundabout, vague way he can come up with. It takes him nearly ten minutes to get to the actual point, and then Carole says "You're going to run for Congress, right? You can just tell me. It's okay."

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Burt asks, somewhat surprised.

"Well, I think you probably don't quite know what you're getting yourself into. But you're passionate, and that's important. I'm with you one hundred percent, no matter what you decide."

Of course, this had to be the exact moment that Kurt decided to come into the kitchen. He narrows his eyes suspiciously, taking a moment to stare them down before asking "What are you making a decision about, Dad?"

Burt's not sure how to answer. He briefly considers saying something about considering hiring a new employee at the shop, but then he remembers how often he's said that the main rule of the house is honesty. Lying is not an option.

Burt decides that if he's going to tell Kurt, he's going to have to go all the way.

"Do you have a few minutes? Burt asks.

Kurt tilts his head to one side, a bit confused.

"Um, sure, Blaine's coming over in a bit, but I'm good now."

"Okay, sit down then. I want your opinion on something." Burt tilts his head towards the kitchen table. He paces a bit as Kurt sits down, watching him curiously. Burt's not sure where to start.

"You know how Coach Sue is running for Congress?" He asks.

Kurt nods.

"Did you know that she's got a solid lead on everyone else and is poised to win?"

Kurt cringes and shakes his head, somehow realizing that the less he says, the easier it will be for his dad to talk.

"The way I see it, there's just two reasons she's doing well. One, people want something to blame right now, and she's giving them the arts to point their fingers at. Second, there's no real legitimate candidate opposing her, so she's just walking all over the joke candidates. So I'm just wondering, hypothetically, of course, what would happen if a guy stepped forward that most people in this area could identify with and actually had a decent platform."

Kurt's eyes have grown wide and he has overcome whatever reluctance to speak he may have had earlier.

"You're running for Congress. You. Burt Hummel. Running for Congress."

Somehow, it's even harder to hear what Kurt thinks than it was with Carole. Burt doesn't have time to analyse that before Kurt is saying:

"That is amazing. Oh my God. DAD! OH MY GOD!"

And suddenly, Burt's arms are full of his son, who is somehow trying to jump up and down while hugging him. Carole watches from the doorway, an amused look on her face.

"This is just incredible, Dad! You're going to be able to change things in this country! Anything I see that bothers me, I can just tell you and you can fix it! We're not going to lose Glee to Sue's craziness. Oh my God!"

And since everyone in this strange family has an absurd sense of timing, Finn comes in at that moment.

"What's going on?" he asks, confusion all over his face.

"DAD'S GOING TO A CONGRESSMAN!" Kurt shrieks. Finn lets out a matching scream.

"EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!" Burt yells. Carole laughs.

"I haven't decided yet. I am only considering it. I am glad that you are all supportive but there's still a lot of stuff that I'm going to have to figure out. I can't just jump into this blindly."

The boys look at Burt as if he's a party pooper.

"So just, go upstairs, get out of my way for a bit and I'll let you know later."

They do, leaving Burt to his thoughts and considerations. Carole finds out that it's too late for him to run officially, but that he could still be written in on the ballots and win that way.

He's mostly decided to run for Congress by the time that Blaine arrives. After saying a quick hello, Blaine heads straight up to Kurt's room, but comes back down not too long after. He sits down in front of Burt, a concerned frown on his face. Burt is sure that Kurt's sitting on the stairs, listening to their conversation. It briefly crosses his mind that Blaine's probably aware of this, too.

"What's up, kid?" Burt asks. He remembers their conversation the week Blaine started at McKinley, about some problem or other that Blaine refused to talk about. Was he ready to talk now?

"Kurt told me that you might run against Coach Sylvester." Blaine says softly, looking at his hands instead of Burt.

"Yup." Burt says, a bit surprised. "Just figuring out how everything will work. Is everything okay? Anything bothering you?"

Blaine shakes his head quickly, but then cringes a bit.

"Somewhat. I, just, have you figured out yet what you'd do if you won? I mean, DC is pretty far away and I – "

"Blaine." Burt interrupts. He gets it now. "My number one concern right now is how I could possibly do this without disrupting the life of my family. This isn't a decision I'm making for myself; it's a decision I'm making for the family."

Blaine nods, considering this.

"So you wouldn't move there?" He asks, his voice hopeful.

"I really, really don't think so." Burt says. "I haven't figured it all out yet. I don't know what we'll do, but you don't have to worry. Kurt will still be here."

Blaine frowns a bit at this. Not exactly the response Burt was expecting. Blaine opens his mouth to say something but closes it again, a slight red tint appearing on his cheeks. He looks away again.

"Hey, buddy." Burt says softly. "What were you going to say?"

Blaine takes a deep breath, pursing his lips in concentration.

"You wouldn't be around much anymore." Blaine whispers. It's a statement, but to Burt it feels like an accusation. It makes sense now. Blaine's been a part of this hodgepodge family for nearly a year now. Burt's been a constant presence in his life for that year, always around for advice and support.

Burt sighs. It's true. He is going to be away a lot more now than before. Running his own business has allowed him a certain amount of flexibility, to the extent that Burt can't even count the number of times that he's dropped everything to respond to some emergency or illness or other.

"Look, things are going to change. I'm not going to lie. But that's the way things work in life. I can tell you that I will spend every minute I can afford to here, instead of there. Carole isn't sure yet how often she'd be able to come with me, so she'll still be around a lot. I'll always have my phone with me. You've got the number for it. And when I am home, we'll just make the most of it, and really cherish the time we have."

"You're really going to do this, aren't you?" Blaine asks, his frown deepening. It's not the response Burt expected.

"As I said, I'm still figuring stuff out, seeing how it would work." Burt replies, his voice hesitant.

Blaine lets out a dark chuckle.

"No. You were speaking in the future tense, not conditional. You've subconsciously decided to do this, but you're just trying to rationalize that decision."

Burt finds himself getting annoyed, partially because the kid shouldn't be able to read him so easily.

"So you think I'm making a mistake? That I'm jumping in over my head?" Burt asks, his voice raised. He can hear a noise by the stairs, probably Kurt standing up in case he needs to calm them down.

Blaine begins to recoil slightly, and Burt is ashamed of himself for raising his voice. But then, Blaine straightens, taking a deep breath before replying.

"No. It's just that I know what it's like to have a father who puts his family second. And I don't want Kurt to ever know how just how much that hurts. And I get that you're doing this for him. Changing Congress for him, but how much of you do you have to give up to do that? I'm sure you're thinking that he doesn't need you as much now that he's eighteen. But this is his last year before he moves away. He's making so many decisions right now, going through so much. I just don't think that you'd want to be missing all of that."

As much as it hurts, Blaine right. It makes Burt respect the kid even more. Not only is he speaking with concern for Kurt, but he's starring Burt down with a ridiculous amount of conviction and composure.

"You're right." Burt finally says. "Thank you for saying all of that. I needed to hear it. I need to think about things more carefully."

Blaine nods, seeming relieved that Burt's not yelling.

"Well, I'll just leave you to think about all that then." Blaine says, getting up and walking across the kitchen. As he reaches the door to the hall Burt calls out.

"Hey buddy?"

"Yeah, Burt?" He asks.

"When I said that I'm thinking about how this affects the family, that includes you, you know."

Blaine nods, his expression thoughtful.

"How's the transition into McKinley going for you? Any better now?" Burt asks.

Blaine shrugs.

"You wanna talk about it yet?" Burt persists.

Blaine's eyebrows knit together and he bites his lip. He seems to be considering it, but then he shakes his head and leaves the kitchen.

Burt makes a note to remember that, maybe even ask Kurt if he knows what's going on. He's gotta look out for every member of his family, after all.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Thank you so much to bevjima and Nurse Kate for commenting! I really appreciate the support! :)

Next up: The First Time!


	17. The First Time

Disclaimer: This chapter includes foul language, a panic attack and a brief discussion about self-harm. Please do not read if any of these will offend or trigger you!

* * *

The next Wednesday night, Kurt and Blaine leave for a date. It's not exactly normal for them to go out on a school night, but Burt doesn't ask questions. He's getting busy with his campaign stuff, and is heading to Columbus the next night for some meetings. But then Kurt comes in the front door just before midnight, tears streaming down his face and Burt knows something is terribly wrong. Kurt stands in the doorway for just a few seconds before he's running up the stairs to his room. Burt follows his son up the stairs and his heart breaks when he sees Kurt, curled up on his bed in the fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably.

Burt does the only thing he can think of, crossing the room and sitting down on the bed. He pulls Kurt into his arms and starts rocking him slowly.

"You're here and you're safe. Nothing can hurt you here." Burt whispers into Kurt's hair, amazed when Kurt doesn't object to his father stroking his meticulously maintained hair.

"Is Blaine safe? Is he home?"

Kurt lets out a small mumbling of affirmation. Burt's relieved. Neither boy is hurt physically. Something must have happened between the two, because if it was external, Blaine would be the one comforting Kurt right now, not Burt. Whatever it is, Burt's sure that the two boys will be able to work things out.

"Did you two fight?" Burt asks, his voice soft.

"I really don't want to talk about it, Dad." Kurt says, gasping for breath because of his runny nose from the crying.

"Are you sure about that?" Burt replies, surprised. Kurt's been so much more open about his feelings since he met Blaine, even when that means talking to his dad about his boyfriend.

"I – I Just…" Kurt sniffles. "It'll be okay. He didn't know what he was doing. It'll be fine tomorrow."

So Blaine had done something. Something that could make Kurt this upset. Something that Kurt refused to talk about.

"Okay." Burt finally gives in. "But if you change your mind, you come talk to me, okay? Even if it's in the middle of the night, okay?"

Kurt nods, his expression thankful.

Burt heads back downstairs, grabbing a beer before sitting down at the couch again. He's trying not to try to worry about what Blaine might have done. Whatever it was, he hopes for everyone's sake, including his own, that it can be resolved easily. What the hell will he do if Blaine's done something awful to Kurt? Blaine wouldn't. He couldn't. Right?

Burt does his best to turn off his brain and just watch the game. He doesn't succeed. Eventually, he gives up and heads up the stairs to go bed. He's just finally managed to doze off when the obnoxious chime of his cell phone wakes him up. Carole sits up, concern spreading across her face. Phone calls at three in the morning usually only mean one thing. Filled with dread, Burt picks up his phone, and is surprised when he sees the contact who's calling. Blaine.

"Blaine? What is it?" Burt asks, his voice muddled by sleep.

"Did Kurt make it home? I've been texting him and calling him but his phone is off. Is he okay?" Blaine's voice is filled with panic.

"Kurt's home, buddy. He's been home since midnight. He's really upset, but he's fine. He didn't want to talk about it."

It's only now that Burt can hear that Blaine is crying, his breath coming out in hoarse gasps. He doesn't say anything for a few long moments, but when he speaks it's just in a steady refrain:

"Oh God oh God oh God."

Burt turns to Carole, her eyes full of worry.

"I think he's having a panic attack. Can you…?"

Carole takes the phone and begins talking in a soothing but firm voice.

"Blaine, sweetheart, can you hear me? Okay, good. Now I need you to calm down, okay, honey? Everything's going to be fine. Are you sitting down? Good. I need you to stay as still as you can for me, okay Blaine? Kurt loves you so much. Everything will be fine with you two. Now I need you to focus on your breathing. I'm going to count and I want you to breathe along with my counting. Can you do that, sweetie? Okay. We're going to breath in one, two. And out one, two."

It takes nearly ten minutes for Carole to calm Blaine down. When she's decided that Blaine's going to be okay, she hands Burt the phone with a final "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

Burt's not even sure what to say to Blaine after all that.

"Are you better now, buddy?" Burt asks, trying to keep his tone gentle.

"I – I think so." Blaine says, his voice a little rough.

"Do you want to talk about it, or do you want to sleep a bit first?"

Blaine doesn't say anything for so long that Burt wonders if he's asleep. When he does speak, there is so much pain in his voice.

"I fucked up, Burt. I fucked up so bad."

Having said that, Blaine starts to cry again.

"Okay, Blaine, I need you to stay calm for me. When I talked to Kurt he said that he was sure that things would be okay, that you didn't know what you were doing. I'm sure he'll forgive you for whatever happened."

"But I don't think I can ever forgive myself." Blaine whispers. It breaks Burt's heart.

"Look, bud, I can only help you so much when I don't know what happened. So unless you want to tell me what happened, I can't do too much more to help you aside from waking up Kurt."

"No, don't!" Blaine says. "I don't want to wake him up. I just needed to know he was safe."

"So are you going to tell me about it?" Burt asks. He hates that he's sounding impatient but, hey, it's three in the morning.

"I – I'm just going to try to get some sleep. Tonight's the opening of West Side Story. I'll see you there, I guess." Blaine sounds guilty.

"Okay then. Whatever you want." Burt is about to say goodbye and hang up before he has another thought.

"Hey, buddy? Are you going to be okay? Are you thinking about hurting yourself at all?" Burt asks, filled with concern.

"Kurt made me get rid of all my razors. I don't have anything to hurt myself with anymore."

This isn't quite a good enough answer for Burt, although it's good to know that Kurt's being actively involved in Blaine's recovery.

"Are you thinking about it, though?" Burt persists. He glances over at Carole, and notices that she has tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I am. I just want to hurt myself like I hurt him, but I know it won't actually make anything better. And that he'll see. But then again after tonight – "

"Blaine. I want you to promise me that you won't hurt yourself. Can you do that for me? If you can't, I'll come pick you up right now."

"No, I promise."

"Promise what?"

"I promise not to hurt myself, Burt."

"Okay, good." Burt says, starting to breathe easily again. "Anything happens, you call again, okay?"

"Okay." Blaine answers. He's starting to sound sleepy.

"Good night, Blaine. We'll sort everything out later."

"Good night Burt. Thank Carole for me, please."

"Will do."

Burt closes his phone and turns to Carole. Her eyes are wide.

"What could he have done?" She asks.

"I don't know." Burt replies, shaking his head and lying back down. "I just hope it's something completely stupid that they're over-reacting about and will laugh about in a few months."

* * *

Burt, as it turns out, doesn't get to find out for quite some time. Kurt is up and off to school before Burt even manages to get out of bed, entirely exhausted from his disrupted sleep. The kids were instructed last week to stay after school until the performance, which would be at 7:00 PM. Burt was wanting to get there somewhat early, hoping to see his boys before the show, but he still needed to pack for the trip to Columbus, which took longer than he would have expected. They he didn't get to the school until fifteen minutes before the show. Carole insisted on sitting down straight away to be sure that they would have a decent seat.

The show was incredible. Kurt makes the most of his role and does an amazing job. Burt is just so proud of his son. Blaine's performance as Tony is flawless. Burt finds himself marvelling at Blaine the Performer on stage – how different he is from the boy who had a panic attack sixteen short hours ago.

When the show finishes, Burt and Carole go back stage. They brought three bunches of flowers. One for Kurt, one for Blaine and a third for Rachel (suggested by Carole, so as to not play favourites.) They see Rachel first, already holding several bunches of flowers. Congratulating her, they find Kurt next. He's glowing, the adrenaline of the stage not yet having left his body. They congratulate him and when Burt tells Kurt how proud he was watching him on the stage, tears fill Kurt's eyes, tears so different from the night before. He hugs the flowers to his chest, and Burt can hardly believe how happy his son looks.

It takes them longer to find Blaine. He's changed out of his costume already, trading it for sweats, and says he's about to go back to work trying to fix a bit of choreography he'd flubbed during the show. They give him the flowers and he thanks them, but he seems distant, hesitant. Burt hugs Blaine tightly for a few moments and asks if he's talked to Kurt yet. He hasn't, but he will soon he thinks. Carole hugs Blaine, too, and whispers something in his ear that Burt can't hear.

It's hard for Burt, but he knows that the best thing he can do for the boys is to let them work this out for themselves. With one last encouraging smile, they leave Blaine to his practicing.

He and Carole head out to the car, and then it's straight on to Columbus. They haven't been driving long when Burt's phone rings. Carole takes it for him since he's driving.

"Hello? Hi Kurt! Yup, traffic's fine. What's that? Good! Oh? Okay. Okay. Call tomorrow before noon. No, of course not! Your dad's covered all that! Good night!"

She closes the phone with a giggle.

"I guess they got it sorted out whatever it was!" Carole says.

"Oh? What did he say?" Burt asks, intrigued.

"He asked about traffic. He said that he and Blaine talked it through and everything's fine."

"And what else?" Burt pries, getting suspicious.

"They're going over to Blaine's house. He's going to stay over. I told him to call before noon tomorrow. He was surprised that I wasn't giving him any platitudes or cautions or anything so I said I thought you'd told him everything already."

And all of a sudden, everything makes sense to Burt. This was about sex. Blaine's mistake. The fight. The panic attack at three this morning. It was all about sex. Burt can feel the blood drain from his face, worry setting in. He has to consciously remind himself that he's driving so that he doesn't take the car straight off the road.

"Are Blaine's parents going to be home?" Burt asks, hoping he's wrong.

"I didn't ask." Carole says. "But I think you're smart enough to know that there's only one reason that they wouldn't be at our place."

Carole must be able to read Burt's mind.

"I know that this is big and scary and goes against your parental instincts, but you have to let Kurt make his own decisions, for better or worse. You've done all that you can to prepare him for this. You've done all that you can to prepare Blaine for it, too. Now it's up to them. Just like it should be."

Carole's right. They haven't even been married for a full year and Burt's already learned that she's almost always right. So he's going to do his best to put the kids out of his mind until he gets a call from Kurt before noon tomorrow.

Putting the kids out of mind doesn't work as well as he hoped. Not even ten minutes have passed before Finn calls Carole to say that he didn't get picked up for the football scholarship. It's just one crisis after another in Hummel-Hudson household.

* * *

Kurt calls around eleven o clock the next day. He promises that he will tell Burt the full story of the fight eventually (Burt can hear Blaine protesting that in the background) and that they had a wonderful night. They're both very happy and in love and everything's okay and he'll see Burt soon. There aren't any answers provided for Burt's many questions but Kurt's tone of pure joy is enough to pacify him.

When Burt and Carole get home, Kurt and Blaine are baking in the kitchen. Burt watches them for a few moments before they realize that they are not alone. Their movements are completely in sync. Kurt reaches for the flour and Blaine hands it to him instantaneously without even being asked. Blaine moves away slightly to reach into a cabinet and Kurt compensates so that not even a second passes where they are further apart.

The cookies are just about ready for the oven by the time they notice Burt, so they agree to chat while they're baking. The boys sit down across from Burt at the table, shifting their chairs together so that their shoulders are touching. All of their contact is appropriate and yet Burt feels as if he's intruding on something extraordinarily intimate.

"So here's how it's going to go. You're going to tell me what happened. You may spare the details that we know I don't want to hear, but I do want to know the rest of the story. I'm not going to say anything until I've heard it all. I will do my best to not judge either of you. Or get angry. Sounds good?"

The boys nod.

"Okay, then. Either of you can start."

They boys look at each other for a split second and then Kurt begins talking.

"So we decided to go out on Wednesday night."

Kurt suddenly turns to Blaine, as if having realized something. His eyes widen. Blaine cringes and then wipes a hand across the front of his face. Kurt turns back to look at Burt.

"Can I have full amnesty for this story?"

Burt snorts.

"Not a chance. But I will try to keep any mistakes you make separate."

Kurt isn't pleased with this. He replies in an unapologetic tone meant to shock.

"Fine. We went to a gay bar. With fake ID's."

That was not what Burt was expecting, but he'd promised to not be judgemental and not get angry. Might be harder than he thought.

"Blaine met this guy at Dalton last week and he invited us. Blaine said no straight away but I thought that it might be fun so we decided we'd go. I didn't drink at all but Blaine did."

Blaine's drinking again? Hadn't he learned his lesson the second time, if not the first?

"Kurt." Blaine interrupts, an uncomfortable look on his face. "I think you need to tell Burt about our conversation first."

Kurt cringes.

"You do it, then." He says.

"Kurt and I had been talking over the week leading to this about becoming intimate. We hadn't done anything at all at that point so it was still highly hypothetical, but we were at the point where we were both feeling more ready. So we'd been talking about it for a while. Just speculatively. What if's and vague plans."

"So Blaine drank a bit at the bar. He thought that he only had one beer – "

"I wasn't trying to get drunk!"

"– but I think Sebastian, that was the guy, kept switching them out. So anyways, when we were ready to go, I decided that Blaine should ride in the back so that he wouldn't puke."

Burt looks over at Blaine, whose eyes are suddenly tear-filled. Kurt seems to notice at the same time and wraps an arm around his boyfriend. He whispers into his ear for a few moments and Blaine's head shakes almost imperceptibly a few times. Finally, Kurt turns back to Burt.

"So as we've learned before, Blaine tends to get particularly affectionate when he's had too much to drink."

Kurt doesn't seem upset as he tells the story, which is good because Burt is having to work really hard to not get concerned.

"So Blaine pulls me into the back with him and, well, uh, propositions me. And I got out of the car and told him that I was definitely not going to lose my virginity in the back of a car in the parking lot of a sketchy bar."

Blaine sobs at this. Kurt just holds him tighter.

"It took Blaine a little while to figure out why I was yelling at him but when he did, he got a bit belligerent and said he was going to walk home. I, uh, took a few moments to compose myself, and then I followed him as he walked. Once I figured he'd calmed down, I got him to ride in the car. We didn't say anything at all the whole way to his house. I took him home and got him settled into bed. And then I came home."

Blaine hiccups and then starts talking.

"So I called you when I'd sobered up enough to understand what happened. I just – I'm still so disgusted with myself."

Burt arches his eyebrows. As much as he wants to say something, he'd promised that he'd hear the full story first. Kurt seems to figure this out.

"So after West Side Story we talked about things. Blaine apologized and I forgave him. Everyone else was going to Breadstix to celebrate but we just wanted to be alone. Finn was bringing Ra– "

Kurt's eyes widened as he realizes his mistake. Burt pretends to not have heard.

"Anyway!" Blaine redirects. "We decided to go back to my house."

The boys look at each other for a few long moments.

"We made some dinner and we talked some more and we…" Blaine trails off. Burt is grateful.

"It was perfect. I mean, it wasn't technically perfect. But I have no regrets at all." Kurt says, a smile on his face.

"Same." Blaine agrees, smiling over at Kurt.

As difficult as all that had been to hear, Burt is still relieved.

"Okay, my turn to talk now, okay?"

The boys nod, starting to look worried.

"A gay bar? Really? Did you want to get arrested or assaulted? It's a miracle nothing worse happened! If you ever even THINK about going back there before you're both twenty-one, there will be hell to pay, I promise you that!"

Burt had snuck into a bar at eighteen, too, but that was different. And they didn't need to know about it.

"Kurt, I'm glad that you weren't drinking, especially since you were driving. Blaine, I don't even know what to say to you. Actually, how about this: you tell me. What does all this mean to you?"

"I'm not going to drink again, Burt, at least until I'm twenty one but I don't even know if I will then. Bad things always happen when I drink. I always hurt people and I become dangerous to myself. I don't think I'm ever going to forget the moment that I understood what I'd done in the parking lot. I was puking my guts out for fifteen minutes before I could calm down enough to call you. I promise you that it will never happen again."

Burt nods. That was a good response. Burt decides not to beat up on Blaine too much, because he knows how much the boy regrets everything that happened, and will learn from his mistakes.

"And you're never going to pressure Kurt again?" Burt knows the answer, even feels silly asking the question, but knows that as a father, it's a question he has to ask. Blaine shakes his head rapidly.

"So anything else you want to tell me?" Burt asks.

The boys look at each other, considering the question for a few moments. Burt's starting to get slightly unnerved by their newfound telepathic abilities. Eventually, Kurt answers.

"We wanted to thank you for all of your advice before. It was really helpful and we're both glad that you were willing to talk about things with us. It means a lot."

Blaine nods, a very sincere expression on his face.

"You're very welcome. I'm happy for you two."

Kurt gets up to get the cookies out of the oven. Suddenly, something that Burt had read in one of those pamphlets comes to mind. It's out of his mouth before he even thinks about it.

"Did it hurt?" Both boys stare at him. "You're okay, right. Everything's fine?"

Kurt and Blaine look at each other and laugh a little bit. Burt feels like they're both thinking about something he doesn't want to know.

"We're fine, Burt." Blaine answers, still laughing.

That's a good enough answer for Burt. He grabs a cookie hot off the tray. When Kurt tries to slap his hand away, Burt laughs saying:

"Kurt, after that conversation, I think I deserve all the cookies in the world. Or do you want to be grounded til Christmas for the whole gay bar incident?"

Kurt's face goes bright red. Burt takes two more cookies.

* * *

Thank you for reading the longest chapter ever!

Some information: Having never witnessed someone having a panic attack, I had to rely on the internet for how Carole helped Blaine. I used an article on WikiHow called "Help Someone Having a Panic Attack"

I found it really challenging to explain Burt and Carole's absence the night after the first show. Hopefully this works!

I tried to keep a lot of the actual sex part vague so as to not contradict anyone's headcannon.

Thank you to bevjima and Nurse Kate for commenting! I really love getting feedback on chapters, especially the harder ones to write!

Please review!


	18. Mash Off

**Trigger warning for outings and homophobia.**

* * *

After all of the drama of the previous week, Burt was really hoping for a little peace and quiet. He didn't get what he hoped for.

Kurt's candidacy is going just as poorly as his own. Apparently, Coach Sue told Kurt that if he wanted to win, he was going to have to pick a strong platform, and then start "flinging poo" at people. This explained a lot about her mindset about her own campaign – she had started running advertisements saying that Burt had a baboon heart and married a donkey. It didn't really bother Burt too much, I mean, who'd believe that? Mr Schue, however, was getting worried.

Burt goes to see Kurt's campaign speech. It's incredible. Burt's not sure if it's all the dramatic arts or what, but Kurt's a great public speaker. However, he's picked a platform that Burt thinks, in all honesty, will not actually help him at all – banning dodgeball. Burt gets it for people like Kurt and that little Rory guy, who are naturally easy targets, really. But speaking as a former jock, Burt knows that Kurt's anti-dodgeball stance will just give the jocks one more reason not to vote for him.

In spite of this, his position starts to look a bit better when Rachel announces that she's dropping out of the running. Burt admires her for this. Of all the ways she could have dropped out, this one probably required the most bravery. Burt hopes that Kurt will forgive her now, since she's trying to make up for what she'd done.

When the speeches are finished, it's Blaine that Kurt hurries over to, not Burt. He can't hear their conversation, but he knows by the blush on Kurt's cheeks that Blaine is praising and encouraging him.

* * *

This, of course, was not the end of the drama for the week. A day or so after the speeches, Burt gets a package delivered to him at the garage. It's a CD of a campaign ad from one of the other Congressional candidates smearing Coach Sue. This isn't what catches Burt's attention, though. It's the word 'lesbian' accompanied by a picture of that one cheerleader from the Glee Club. Burt's dialing Mr. Schuester before he even considers that Will might be in a class. When Will asks him to be a part of the conversation with Santana, Burt agrees.

The confrontation with Sue is challenging, largely because Burt didn't know that she was capable of human emotions, not to mention that she'd get choked up when she hears the news. Gradually, more information comes out. Burt is devastated to know that all this is because of something Finn shouted in the hallway. He'd been so much more considerate lately, Burt thought, or maybe Burt just hadn't been monitoring him closely enough.

Santana runs out crying and Burt is so sad for her. He is stuck in the moment of Kurt coming out to him, how entirely scared Kurt had seemed, even though Burt had done nothing but love him for sixteen years. Her parents didn't know she was gay – how would they react? Should he call them? Would that help, or hurt?

Burt's got his head in his hands, thinking about all this, when Will taps him on the shoulder.

"Um, just a related question." Will says, his voice uncomfortable. "How does Finn treat Blaine when they're at your house?"

The question surprises Burt. He takes a minute to think back. Finn had been great with Blaine all of last year and all through the summer, but since school started, he'd been more distant. Burt hadn't noticed it at the time. Finn was often a bit anti-social, something Burt just attributed to the tendency of teenagers to do everything they can to seem apathetic at all times.

"Fine. Blaine pretty much sticks to Kurt like glue. Why?"

"He's just had a few comments targeted to Blaine. Nothing particularly hurtful, really just unnecessary reminders that he is the leader of the group. It's almost like he feels threatened by Blaine. Blaine never says anything, but it seems like it's getting to him."

And all of a sudden, everything makes sense to Burt. Blaine's problem the first week of school. He said he was just "learning [his] place in public school life." Of course he didn't want to tell Burt, who was technically Finn's dad now. Blaine must have made a hierarchy in his mind of who Burt cared about the most – Kurt, Carole, Finn, Blaine. He must have thought that Burt would take Finn's side of things. He'd said that he thought it would get better; Blaine must have thought that as the year went on he'd figure out how to be less of a target so that Finn wouldn't pick on him. He saw this as his own fault.

So now, Burt not only has to deal with the massive problem of Finn outing Santana, but also Finn bullying Blaine. It's two o clock now. The boys have Glee practice after school. When they come home, they are all going to be sitting down at the kitchen table for a nice long chat. Burt wonders what will happen if the news spreads during Glee Club. His mind provides an image of Kurt attaching Finn with his sai swords. He shudders. He asks Mr. Schue to try to keep the kids away from the topic. He decides to text Blaine a vague text message saying to come home as soon as Glee is over, or sooner if anything happens.

* * *

Finn comes home first. Burt and Carole are waiting for him at the kitchen table, and are surprised when Finn walks straight to the freezer to grab an ice pack.

"You will not believe what just happened to me! Santana, that BITCH, just comes up and absolutely slaps the living shit out of me. She's crazy! Why the hell - "

Burt isn't surprised by how oblivious Finn is but it just worsens everything about the situation.

"Sit down, Finn."

Finn looks confused, and vaguely annoyed to be interrupted, but he sits down all the same.

"What's going on? Is this about last week? Rachel and I were safe, I promise."

Burt can feel Carole tense beside him. He decides to get back to that later.

"No, Finn. This is about Santana."

Finn looks vaguely relieved, but more confused.

"What? How did you know? It just happened a minute ago."

"This is about what you said to her in the hallway yesterday." Burt answers, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Whatever I said, it was only because she was attacking me and Rory. She was bullying us! She was saying I was fat and really mean stuff! I'm sick of her doing shit like that to me, and now she's doing it to Rory to? It's just awful."

Burt looks to Carole. She looks as upset as he feels. How can they explain this to Finn?

"Did Burt ever tell you about when Kurt came out to him?" Carole asks.

Finn looks confused. To him, this must seem like a totally unrelated point. He shakes his head.

"You remember that game that he won when he was the kicker?" Finn nods again. "He came out to me after that. I cannot even tell you how scared he was. He was nearly in tears because he was so worried that I'd react badly."

"But that's silly. Everyone knew he was gay. I totally did before that. You must have, too. Plus, you're really cool and everything. Why would he be so scared?"

"Because that's how scary coming out is, Finn." Carole says, her eyes wide. Burt can tell that she's just praying that Finn will understand. "It doesn't always matter how much support you have or how flamboyant you are. It's scary because it's so personal. It's so much of who you are."

"Why are we talking about this?" Finn asks. He's starting to make a face that suggests that he's not happy that he is being forced to learn things after the end of the school day.

"When you had that spat in the hallway with Santana, you told her she should come out. You two weren't alone. Several people heard, and one of them told their uncle, who is using it in a campaign ad against Coach Sue. So because of what you said, there is now a commercial on TV with Santana's picture that says she is a lesbian. She hadn't even told her parents yet."

Finn's face is a mixture of defiance and concern, almost as if he's beginning to understand what he did but he's too stubborn to admit he'd done something wrong. It's in this moment that the front door slams open. Burt can hear a struggle happening, and suddenly Kurt and Blaine appear at the entry to the kitchen.

Blaine is forcibly restraining Kurt who is screaming at the top of his lungs while tears stream down his face.

"HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! HOW COULD YOU FINN! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY BROTHER! HOW COULD YOU!"

Kurt is gasping now in between screams. Blaine's wrapped his arms even tighter around his boyfriend, less to restrain him now, but more to hold him up as he tires himself out. Blaine's looking just as bad as Kurt, his eyes full of tears. Finn is more confused.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to you!"

Kurt lets out a yell and makes a renewed attempt to claw his way out of Blaine's arms.

"Blaine. Take Kurt upstairs. Now." Burt commands.

Blaine nods and then, surprising everyone, picks Kurt up in his arms as if he weighs nothing at all and hurries out of the room. After a few moments, Kurt's screams die down as a door slams.

Burt and Carole look at each other again, even more uncertain than before.

"Look, Finn, you might not be able to understand it, but what you did really hurt Santana. She might not be accepted by her parents now. A lot of gay teens get kicked out of their house, just like Quinn did two years ago. She lives in a fairly violent neighbourhood and might be seen as a target outside of school. And at school, well, you've seen the sorts of things they do to Kurt. Hell, you did some of those things to him. And I know you feel bad about that, but Kurt right now doesn't think you do. Because, to him, you hurting someone who is gay makes him think he can't trust you anymore."

Burt is actively trying to say things that might hurt Finn's feelings now, hoping that he can find a way to make Finn understand the situation. Carole taps him on the knee. She knows what he's doing, but it's a gentle suggestion to lay off a bit. She's right, of course.

"I'm going to go check on Kurt and Blaine." Burt says, standing up. He really hopes that Carole can fix this mess.

He heads up the stairs and knocks lightly on Kurt's closed door. He waits until he hears a muffled reply before opening. The boys are lying on Kurt's bed, Kurt curled into Blaine's chest. Blaine's arms are wrapped tightly around Kurt and his eyes are red and puffy. Burt can't see Kurt's face, but he's sure that his eyes are the same.

"So it's been really hard to get Finn to understand what happened. I did my best and Carole's going to keep trying, but it might take him a while. I know this is really personal to both of you, but if it helps at all, he didn't know what he was doing. It's just ignorance. I'm sure that we can teach him about outings and get him to be a better person for it."

Burt knows that nothing he says is going to help the boys, that nothing he can say will undo Finn's actions, but he still feels the need to try. He's just thinking that he should leave the boys alone to comfort each other, but then he remembers something.

"Hey Blaine." Burt says softly. Blaine looks up. "I want to ask you about something."

Kurt shifts a bit so that he can see his dad and his boyfriend, concern appearing on his tear-stained face.

"Okay." Blaine says, his voice soft.

"I was talking with Schuester today and he mentioned about Finn saying some mean things to you in Glee. Is that what was upsetting you during the first week?"

In just a few seconds, the positioning of the boys changes completely. Instead of Blaine comforting Kurt, Kurt is now comforting Blaine. The tears have disappeared from Kurt's eyes, but returned to Blaine's.

"I just feel like he doesn't want me there. He doesn't think I belong. And I just – I get it, I do. But I'm not trying to take over the club or anything. I'm just making occasional suggestions, trying to keep people positive. The only solo I've had all year was in a song that I came up with just to boost morale. And I'm trying to defer to him and agree with him, even when he does things like welcome Rory into the group with solos with a glance in my direction like he's trying to hurt my feelings. I just don't understand why he's doing this."

"Look, Blaine." Burt says eventually. "I don't want you to ever feel like you can't tell me something. Even if it's something to do with Finn or even Kurt, Carole or myself. No matter what happens, I will always listen to you and do whatever I can to help."

Blaine nods. But then he says something that surprises Burt.

"Just, please don't say anything to him? He's really upset right now and I don't want to be just another thing that he's getting in trouble over. It's not that bad. I can handle it. Please, Burt."

Burt doesn't really understand why he's so emphatic about this, but, grudgingly, he nods.

"Okay, but you have to promise me that if you change or mind or it gets worse at all, that you'll tell me or Kurt or even Mr. Schue. You have as much right as anyone to be in Glee Club, and no one, not even Finn, should be allowed to make you feel differently."

Blaine nods, but, just like with their conversation two months ago, Burt feels like Blaine's just agreeing to be able to stop talking about things.

Burt leaves Kurt's room, but instead of going back downstairs, he goes into the master bedroom. Burt's just so sad right now, and still so upset with Finn. Seeing Kurt and Blaine so distraught only made things worse. It's taking Burt back to that awful day a year and a half ago when he found Finn screaming slurs at Kurt. It was easy then to kick Finn out of the house, but he can't do that now. This problem can't be ignored: Burt is going to have to fix it.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry for not updating sooner! Life just got a bit hectic and I didn't have any time to write, not to mention re-watch the episode. I found this chapter really hard to write. There was nothing included in the show about Finn getting in trouble for what he did, or any remorse, really. The need to support Santana, yes. The need to make Finn understand what he did was wrong, no. Anyways, I hope I managed to do that well!

A note on the last chapter: I hadn't rewatched the episode before writing the chapter, so I didn't realize that Burt and Carole did actually go away opening night. Also, in canon, they went to Toledo, not Columbus. If I ever go back and edit the story, I'll be sure to fix that!

There was also a comment raised about the timing of events. The majority of plays my high school put on ran Thurs-Sat. I decided to adopt this time frame, with Scandals on Drag Queen Wednesday, because I couldn't imagine Klaine not talking for any more than a day!

In SUPER exciting news, **Coldplayer01** will be translating 'Burt and the Kid' into Portuguese! I'll be sure to include a link to that as soon as it is up. If you would like to translate this story into another language, please message me! Also, I would be interested in finding a beta for this story. I keep finding plot holes and typos after posting, so if you have a good eye for detail, please message me!

Also, if you haven't yet scene the deleted Box Scene, search for it on YouTube now. And, of course, I'm treating it as canon, so you'll see it again in just three chapters in this story.

Thank you to **raem9898, bevjima, Nurse Kate, AlwaysKlaine** and **rissa337** for reviewing!


	19. I Kissed A Girl

It takes a long time, but Burt eventually feels like Finn understands what he did wrong. Finn lies to Figgins, saying that when Santana slapped him, that it was just a stage slap, preventing her from being suspended. He gets her to bring the Troubletones to Glee for the week so that the club can show support for her.

Kurt and Blaine tell Burt about the duet about acceptance they sang for her. Burt can tell how special the song is to the two of them, but apparently Santana didn't appreciate it anywhere near as much as they had expected her to. Burt suggests that maybe she's trying to protect herself by not letting people in, since she'd been hurt so badly. Blaine understands this concept entirely, having done the same at times, and he and Kurt feel less hurt by her snide remarks.

The Congressional race comes to an end and no one is more surprised than Burt himself when he wins the election. There are tears of joy and the celebrations go on late into the evening. There are talks of plans, of strategies, but the focus now is on a big party for his supporters.

This gets interrupted by a call from McKinley, telling Burt that he needs to get there as soon as possible to be present in a disciplinary meeting about Kurt. Burt drops everything to go there, beyond confused over what it could be. As it turns out, the ballot box in Kurt's election was stuffed in his favour, with more people voting for him than were in the senior class.

Kurt is defensive, but admits to considering to cheating. In that moment, Burt makes up his mind. Whether or not Kurt did stuff the ballots, he's not innocent. It's decided that Kurt is disqualified from the election, and that Brittany, that silly cheerleader, wins instead. Kurt runs from the office, tears on his face. Burt shakes hands with the administration and leaves to drive home, trying to figure out what to say when Kurt comes home.

When he hears the front door open, he calls out.

"Kurt, get in the kitchen." He doesn't manage to disguise his tone into something non-threatening.

But it's not Kurt that comes into the kitchen, it's Blaine. He looks really uncomfortable, but he sits down at the table.

"Kurt's with Mike and Tina. He wasn't, uhm, ready to come home and he wanted to keep crying for a while, so I sent him home with them."

Burt nods. He had felt angry at the school, but it really hurts to think that Kurt thought he couldn't come home, whether because of guilt or fear.

"He didn't do it, Burt." Blaine says, his eyes pleading. "You must know that. You can tell when he's lying. He's not a cheater; he works too hard. It crossed his mind one day when he was talking to Rachel, but he said that he didn't think of it again after that conversation. It was more of a joke than anything else."

"But he told us it crossed his mind. Why would he do that?" Burt asks, confused.

"If you'd done something you shouldn't have and lied about it, would you ever admit to considering it? Of course not. You'd deny it, tooth and nail. Kurt is so honest, so transparent, you know that. He couldn't even withhold the fact that it had crossed his mind."

What Blaine is saying makes sense. Kurt never was able to lie, even as a child. He'd come to his mom and Burt crying, saying that he'd broken something or that he'd taken a cookie from the jar and that he was so, so sorry.

"Would you tell me if you'd thought he'd cheated?" The words are out of Burt's mind the moment they are thought.

A stricken look crosses Blaine's face. He doesn't answer for the longest time, his face simply changing from looks of concern to looks of confusion until a look of decisiveness crosses his face.

"In an election to have a position wherein the only power is picking the theme of prom, with the two other candidates being a mindless cheerleader and a mindless jock, both of whom had tormented him in the past?"

It's enough of an answer for Burt, but it's actually a pretty diplomatic answer as well. It shows Blaine's loyalty to Kurt, but also faith in Burt's ability to react fairly in difficult situations.

"Okay, fine. Why don't you go pick him up. Make sure to tell him I'm not mad or whatever you need to say to get him to come home. Sounds good?"

"So you're not mad?" Blaine asks, just to make sure, but a little doubt creeping into his voice.

"He didn't actually do anything wrong, did he?" Burt challenges.

"No, no he didn't." Blaine affirms with a smile.

* * *

It turns out that Rachel had stuffed the ballots after Kurt had joked about it in their conversation. This makes Burt want to take back all the nice thoughts he had about her last week when she bowed out of the race. They'll never know if Kurt would have won if he hadn't been disqualified, but Burt tries not to think in those terms.

Kurt now has to write up his application form for NYADA, many of the spaces for extra-curriculars painfully empty. Burt steps back and lets Blaine help his son through all of this. Kurt's not particularly fond of Burt right now, even after Burt apologized for assuming the worst. Plus, Blaine's able to help Kurt deal with it all better than Burt ever could.

* * *

Thanks for reading, and I'm sorry it's so short! It probably shows, but I didn't care for this episode much at all. Since the chapter is so short, I'm going to write an extra-long author's note.

You might not have noticed, but I uploaded a one-shot yesterday. **Coffee-and-klainbows713** had asked me to write about the scene set in Chpt. 8 that I mentioned in Chpt. 9, of Blaine showing Kurt his scars. I said no at first, but the idea stayed with me. You can find the link to it through my profile. I am toying with an idea for another one shot, and I'll let you know if I ever write it.

**Coldplayer01** has posted their translation of 'Burt and the Kid' into Portuguese. I'm struggling with posting a link, so just do an author's search of the username, and it's under "My Stories." I am super excited about this. I don't know any Portuguese, but it seems really well-adapted! If you would like to translate BatK into another language, or beta read for me, please send me a message.

I would just like to send a HUGE thank you to everyone who commented on the most recent chapter: **bevjima, Nurse Kate, forgettheworld, cellowings, sasimljemihuddy, AlwaysKlaine, raem9898 **and** KlainePotter**. I'd never had so many reviews come in all at once. It meant so much to me, particularly because I'd struggled so much with the chapter. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm leaving to visit my grandmother on Thursday for about a week. I will have sporadic internet access, much like at the end of May, but I'll do my best to keep writing while there, so if you don't get frequent updates, you may get several once I've returned home next week.

Next up: "Hold on to Sixteen" aka "The One Where Blaine Boxes" or "The One With the Amazing Jackson Medley" or "Possibly Sarah's Favourite Non-First-Time Episode"

I just really like that episode, okay? :P


	20. Hold On to Sixteen

**Trigger warning: discussion of a homophobia based hate crime**

* * *

Burt's considering putting a plaque on the front door that says "The Hummel-Hudson Home for Boys." He'd started with one son, Kurt, and then gained Finn a year or so ago, and then Blaine soon after. When Finn comes home one day in mid-November, asking if that Sam kid can move in with them, too, Burt really can't think of any reason why not. In the spring, Burt had got to know the kid a bit, after the whole debacle of Finn thinking that Kurt was cheating when he was actually helping Sam's recently homeless family. Sam was nice kid, with a good head on his shoulders and an incredible dedication to his family.

Since Blaine was never in the guest room any more, Burt offered it to Sam, who accepted gladly and thankfully. Burt and Carole started buying even more groceries. After all, they were now feeding four insatiable teenaged boys, even with Kurt being as picky as he was.

One night, Burt overhears Sam telling the guys about the job that he'd been working. From what Burt has gathered, the kid was working as a sexy dancer in a club for middle-aged women. It paid really good money, and Sam must have valued his family's well-being over his own dignity. Burt can't imagine being in a position where he felt he would have to do something like that.

Things run fairly smoothly for a few days, to the extent that Burt starts to genuinely wonder what life was like when it was just him and Kurt, compared to now being a busy house of six. But, of course, with four teenagers, it isn't long before some drama pops up again.

Sam comes home early from Glee practice one day, and Burt can almost see a gray cloud above his head like cartoon characters often have. Burt tries to chat, but Sam just stalks up to his room and closes the door. Next home is Finn, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable. He, too, goes upstairs and closes the door to his room. Burt's learned to leave Finn alone when he's upset, and not to even try to talk things through for a few hours. He assumes Sam is the same. Kurt and Blaine come home right when Burt is starting to get worried, considerably after the end of Glee. Burt knows he can get these two to talk.

After coming in the front door, the boys curl up together on the couch, and Burt can't help himself from comparing them in his mind to two little puppies huddled together for comfort and warmth. Burt sits down in his chair across from them.

"Are you two gonna tell me what happened?" Burt asks. "Because I've got two silent guys upstairs that don't look any better than you two."

The boys look at each other for a have second. Burt can tell that Blaine is silently imploring Kurt to speak for them, while Kurt is firmly insisting that Blaine talk. With a sigh, Blaine starts talking.

"I had a bit of an… outburst in Glee today." Blaine says, looking at his hands instead of Burt. He's picking at his hands, his fingers getting progressively closer to his wrist.

"Okay." Burt says, trying to encourage Blaine to keep talking. "That happens to the best of us. Kurt's gotten in trouble for that plenty."

This doesn't seem to comfort Blaine as much as Burt had hoped. Kurt's noticed this, too, and Burt can tell that they are both working now to keep Blaine from shutting them out and retreating into himself.

"Would you like me to tell the story, sweetie?" Kurt asks softly, reaching to clasp Blaine's hands in his, clearly noticing the way Blaine's hands were picking at his wrists. "You can add in whatever you'd like."

Blaine nods.

"Sam was talking about the fact that the girls are going to be using their attractiveness to their advantage. That, apparently, the average straight man is so stupid that he will prefer any performance with wiggling boobs and butts, no matter if another team is better. Anyway, he was suggesting that he try some sexier dance moves. Blaine didn't like this idea, and said that it was cheap and degrading. Sam disagreed, saying that it was just using your strengths to your advantage. And then Blaine…"

Kurt trails off, a sad look on his face. Blaine has now completely hidden his face against Kurt's chest. His body language is suggesting a lot of guilt and embarrassment.

"Blaine said that Sam obviously has to think that, so that he can sleep at night. Sam asked what that meant, and Blaine said it meant that he is not for sale. They started shoving each other and Blaine left the practice."

Burt's surprised. Blaine's one of the sweetest, kindest hearted kids imaginable. He doesn't try to hurt other people, or embarrass others for his own gain. Burt realizes that there must have been something else going on.

"Hey, Blaine?" Burt asks, trying to get Blaine to lift his head up so that they can make eye contact. "What got you so upset? You're not a mean person: saying stuff like that is so unlike you. What happened?"

It has the desired effect. Burt's words are encouraging enough, supportive enough, to bring Blaine back into the conversation. Blaine must have realized that he isn't going to get reprimanded or shamed for his comment, but that Burt will listen to his side of things.

"I –" Blaine opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to find the words. Burt nods. "I told you that when the guys beat me up, they were verbally bashing us, too, right?"

Kurt and Burt both let out small noises of confirmation.

"Well, they – uh – they used all of the slurs and everything, but they were also saying awful things about our sexuality. That we were s-sluts and whores and cheap and worthless and that we probably would l-love to s-suck them off and that we were full of d-diseases and just on and on like that."

Blaine's crying now, stammering out the words as tears run down his cheeks. Kurt's crying, too, his face buried in Blaine's neck as he hugs his boyfriend. Burt is horrified.

"So when Sam was doing all the hip thrusts and grinding moves and saying that was what s-sex was, it just really upset me. B-because it's not like that at all! Kurt's worth more than that. And I-I'm worth more than that, too! We're not cheap because we're having s-sex. We love each other and it's s-special and it's b-beautiful and I'm not a whore!"

Burt's not sure how long he'd been there, but when he glances away from Blaine for a second to dab at his eyes, he sees that Sam is standing in the doorway. Sam is looking at Blaine, who is now being rocked in Kurt's arms. Kurt is crying, too, but still trying to whisper words of comfort to Blaine. Sam eventually notices that Burt is watching him. Burt angles his head a bit to invite him into the conversation. Sam hesitates, but comes in, crossing the room until he is kneeling on the floor in front of Blaine.

He doesn't say anything for a few long moments, and Blaine doesn't even notice Sam's arrival.

"Blaine." Sam says silently. "I - "

"Sam!" Blaine interrupts, sitting up and wiping tears from his eyes. "I am so, so sorry. I should not have said any of that to you. It was rude and hurtful and I didn't mean it at all. I just – "

"Blaine, listen to me." Sam interrupts back. "I forgive you. It's fine. I didn't know that what I was saying would hurt you like that. I'm sorry that I hurt you, too. I never meant to insult you or Kurt."

Blaine just stares at Sam for a moment. Burt wonders what he is thinking. He wonders when the last time was that someone who had hurt Blaine had actually apologized.

After just a few moments, the whole argument is resolved in typical teen boy fashion, pats on the back, repetitions of the phrase "Yeah, we're cool, man." and the agreement to play video games together later. Sam heads back upstairs, and Burt is left wishing that all of Blaine's problems could be resolved that easily.

When Kurt is making dinner with Carole later, Blaine tells Burt that he and Finn had talked things out, too. Finn confessed to being jealous of Blaine, and Blaine promised to do anything Finn needed him to do so that the team could win sectionals. Burt feels slightly guilty, but he finds himself thinking that Blaine let Finn off too easy.

Burt isn't able to attend the sectionals competition this year, which is really upsetting for him. He watches Kurt's DVD of it after, and marvels over how much better the club is than they were even last year. Burt gets a bit emotional during the performance of "Man in the Mirror" watching his three newest boys singing about creating change in the world, starting with themselves. He's just so proud of them. The New Directions' performance finishes, and Burt watches at Finn gives Blaine the "bro-fist." Burt thinks that they'll be okay from now on.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, this tied up a few loose ends. I always wondered why Blaine got so defensive in the argument with Sam, and how Sam would affect the 'Hudmelson' family dynamic.

I'm working on a few chapters at once for the first time ever, but I'm thinking I might be posting every three days from now on instead of every other day. Hopefully, the chapters will be a bit longer to make up for it!

My personal life is really getting in the way of writing right now. I'm sure you've all had one of those weeks where everything suddenly happens at once, and you get phone call after phone call of bad news. This has been that week for me. I'm crossing my fingers that I've been through the worst of it!

Thank you to **AlwaysKlaine, bevjima, cellowings, raem9898, Nurse Kate **and** KlainePotter** for leaving reviews!


	21. Extraordinary Merry Christmas

Burt's never been all that into Christmas, especially not since Kurt's mom died. People always say that the first Christmas after a death is the hardest, Burt's decided that that doesn't make the next Christmases any easier. It's good having a full house, though, not to distract him from the loss, but to remind himself of how much he still has in his life.

Sam's decided to go home to Kentucky for Christmas, and Burt makes a point of letting him know that while they want him to be able to be home with his family, he would absolutely have been happy to include them in the celebration.

In spite of Burt's lack of the Christmas spirit, he makes sure to watch the Glee kids' Christmas special when it airs on TV. It's fun and light-hearted and Burt enjoys it, but he feels a little pang of sadness when Kurt and Blaine hesitantly refer to themselves as "best friends and holiday roommates." Even when they are playing themselves, the boys aren't allowed to actually be themselves. There are a few lines that seem, well, sexual, but Burt decides he's just reading too much into it, and does everything he can to forget the suggestive smirk on Blaine's face.

A few days after school finishes, Burt goes to ask Kurt a question in his room. He knocks on the door and opens it after being told to come in. What he sees surprises him: Kurt is lying on his stomach on his bed, his legs crossed at the ankles, staring dreamily at an open ring box. Burt leans against the door frame to support his suddenly weak legs.

"Kurt, what is that?" Burt asks, trying and failing to keep his voice casual.

"Oh, this?" Kurt says, snapping out of his daze and looking slightly guilty. "Oh, nothing. Just a present from Blaine."

Kurt snaps the box closed and sits up on his bed, hiding the ring behind him.

"Is that a ring?" Burt asks.

"It's a promise ring, Dad." Kurt says, having realized that he can't redirect Burt from the topic.

Okay, so it's not an engagement ring. Burt starts to breathe a little easier.

"What does that mean?" Burt asks, hoping Kurt will just say something vague about promising to have a movie night.

"It was just the sweetest thing ever, Dad." Kurt replies, the dreaminess returning to his voice. "I asked him what he was promising, and he said that he'd always love me, that he'd defend me, that he'd try to surprise me and he'd answer his phone no matter when I called. Things like that. Isn't that nice?"

Kurt looks up at his dad, and Burt swears Kurt's pupils have been replaced with hearts. Burt just grunts out an affirming noise.

"Yup, that's real nice Kurt. I'm just gonna… leave you to it then." Burt gets up leaves the room. The past few minutes have launched his brain into warp speed. He heads downstairs, sits in his chair with his beer, and all at once, he sees it. He sees Blaine coming to him, asking for permission to marry Kurt. He sees Kurt whispering that he's going to propose to Blaine and that he's just so nervous and excited. He sees himself shopping for a tux and helping Carole decorate the hall for the wedding. He sees the boys exchanging vows in the front of the chapel, vows identical to the promises Blaine had just made to Kurt.

And then, he sees himself with grandkids. Kurt and Blaine playing in the park with a little girl and a little boy. Running around a playground, helping a little one down a slide. Burt can see it so clearly, and he's sure the boys can, too. It's completely overwhelming, and actually brings Burt to tears. It's everything that a man could ever want for his son, for him to be healthy, happy and loved. It's much too soon, but isn't everything these days?

The next time Blaine comes over, Burt gives him an extra hug and pat on the back. He overhears Kurt telling Blaine about how Burt had seen the ring and totally freaked out, but Blaine doesn't sound concerned. Despite all his insecurities, Blaine has never seemed to doubt that Burt wants Blaine in his son's life.

The boys go to Blaine's house for his parents' annual Christmas Eve party. They're home in the late evening, Blaine's parents having agreed to let him stay the night and go back to their house for Christmas dinner. Kurt and Blaine seem glad to be home, but neither says anything about the party itself. Burt decides not to pry: it is Christmas after all.

It comes time for the traditional opening of a present before bed and Blaine is delighted to see that there are presents for him under the tree, too. The five family members, albeit missing Sam a little, were the picture of a cozy family, in spite of being quite abnormal. There's a man and his son, a woman and her son, and a boy. The man and woman married, and the other boy practically engaged to the man's son. It was highly unconventional, but as Burt sat on the couch watching his family, he realized he couldn't love them more.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Sorry it's short, but at least I got the box scene in!

I'm planning to just skip over "Yes/No." If you think that there's a great scene in it that I really ought to cover, please let me know in comments. I just really can't see anything in it that I'd want to write about. Failing that, BatK will resume with "Michael!"

My personal life is continuing to be frustrating and challenging, but I've been doing some cathartic writing so I guess it works out for y'all! I'm moving back to university next weekend, so my plan is to post the chapters I've got written every three days, so that if I don't write for a while, there won't be as much of a hiatus.

Thank you to **jackie coleman, The-Magic-Of-Imagination, bevjima, KlainePotter, paddyofurniture, raem9898, georgethecunt **and** Nurse Kate** for leaving reviews, particularly those who left really long ones. It made my week easier!

To answer a few questions: yes, I will be continuing this into season four. Burt will meet Blaine's parents in "Michael" and I really hope that it won't disappoint – you might want to lower your expectations, just to be safe!

Take care! : )


	22. Michael

Trigger warnings: Assault and discussion of self-harm. Please do not read if either of these might be triggering for you!

* * *

January rolls around and school starts up again. Kurt and Blaine have a few weeks of much deserved peace and quiet, but things aren't so good for Finn. Carole had told Burt fairly early on in their relationship what had actually happened to Finn's dad. Burt knew at the time that the truth would have to come out eventually, but that didn't make the process any easier. Finn took the news horribly. Even once he'd seemed to move on, he was still acting really strange.

Ever since Blaine gave Kurt the promise ring, Burt had noticed that they never even bicker. The two boys are absolutely content with each other, which is why Burt is so surprised when they come home arguing one day.

"How often do you talk to him, Blaine? It sounds pretty often from what he was saying!"

"For goodness sake, Kurt, he was baiting you, you know that! I did add him on Facebook back when we first met and he claimed to want advice, so he must have just gotten my cell number off there!"

"Why are you not answering my question! I'm starting to wonder if you're hiding something!"

The boys are so wrapped up in their conversation that they don't notice Burt standing a few feet away, an incredulous look on his face.

"Kitchen table, anyone?" Burt asks, chuckling internally at the way the boys startle.

Once seated at the table, Burt can't help notice the tension between the two boys. Not only are they not sitting close enough to touch shoulders, they're both sending each other annoyed glances.

"So, who wants to start from the beginning?" Burt prompts.

"Blaine's been talking to another guy." Kurt says quickly, obviously going for shock value, as if trying to win Burt's side.

"Blaine, do you want to tell me about this guy?" Burt asks, trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the question. As if Blaine would actually be looking at other guys a month after giving Kurt a promise ring!

"He's a Warbler. I met him when I went to give them tickets for West Side Story. He was new so he wanted to chat. He, uh, said some things that made me uncomfortable, and I told him I had a boyfriend and definitely was not interested, but he's been pretty persistent." Blaine says in a calm voice, as if he's doing everything he can think of to keep the conversation from turning into a fight.

"He was the one that convinced us to go to the, uh, bar." Blaine adds, as an afterthought.

A guy that doesn't seem to want to take 'no' for answer and dragged two of Burt's under aged boys to a bar? Burt's starting to understand Kurt's hostility.

"So have you been talking with him?" Burt asks. He's hoping that Blaine's answer will be able to pacify Kurt.

"Not really." Blaine answers. "He texts me occasionally, and I'll reply, but very formally. Sometimes he calls, and I don't want to just hang up on him, so I'll say a quick 'hello' and then make an excuse. He called this morning and I told him that I couldn't talk because I was practicing for Regionals. He must have heard my music in the background, because when we saw him today, he said that it was such a good idea, the Warblers were going to do Michael Jackson, too."

Burt doesn't like the sound of this kid at all, and he gets both Kurt and Blaine's opinions. Burt can completely understand why Kurt wouldn't want Blaine to have any contact with this kid, but he also knows how deeply Blaine feels the need to please everyone and be polite and friendly to those he talks to, especially other Dalton students.

"Blaine, I get it, but this kid just sounds like bad news. Maybe you should delete him as a 'friend' from Facebook and block his number on your cell."

"Burt, he's harmless." Blaine protests. "He's just misguided in his efforts. I'll just be more careful not to say anything important when I'm talking to him."

Burt's learned over the year or so that he's known Blaine that when the kid's mind is made up, there's very little he can do to change it. This seems to be one of those times. Burt decides to let it go, and hopes to God that it won't come back to bite him later.

Sure enough, it does. Burt answers the home phone one evening to hear Kurt sobbing hysterically. Burt listens carefully, filling with concern as Kurt tells him that Finn's driving them to the hospital because Blaine got a slushie to the eye. Burt can actually hear Blaine whimpering in pain through the phone. He reminds Kurt to call Blaine's parents, and then tells his son that he'll be there soon.

Burt tells Carole what happened and they're at the hospital in less than twenty minutes. After asking a few questions, they learn that Blaine's been taken into urgent care. They turn a corner to find Kurt being restrained by Finn as a nurse tells them that they are going to have to wait in the room until the doctor finishes. Kurt is crying and thrashing in Finn's arms.

"What happened, Finn?" Burt asks, trying to understand what's going on so that he can help Kurt calm down.

"We, uh, we were having a sing-off with the Warblers. We'd just about finished the song when that awful Sebastian guy tried to throw a slushie at Kurt. Blaine jumped in front of it, and it must have hit him in the eye because he started absolutely screaming. The Warblers ran off, and Blaine just seemed to be in more and more pain, so Tina said we should go to the hospital. They took Blaine back a moment or two ago. He was crying and yelling about needing Kurt, but they wouldn't let Kurt back with him."

Burt lets out a long sigh.

"Did you call his parents, Kurt?" Burt asks.

"Mhm." Kurt answers with a sniffle.

"And are they on their way?" Burt prompts.

"No." Kurt says, wiping his eyes. "They're at some kind of a conference in Pennsylvania. They said that they'd pack up and drive through the night, but they won't be here for hours yet."

"But I just don't understand," Carole says "You've gotten slushied plenty of times and nothing like this has ever happened."

"We all have good reflexes so we can shut our eyes in time." Finn suggests.

"I think Sebastian put something else in it." Kurt says, his eyes dark.

"What do you mean, Kurt?" Carole asks.

"I tried to wipe what I could away from his face when I was trying to see his eyes. But when I touched it, it was warm, not ice cold. I don't know what could do that to a slushie. It still had the chunks of ice in it, but it felt warm."

Burt's eyebrows narrow. What could that guy have done to the slushie? It was clearly meant to cause harm. Burt's heart sinks as he realizes that the harm was intended for Kurt, not Blaine. If Blaine hadn't taken the slushie for Kurt, how hurt would Kurt be right now?

The minutes pass slowly as they wait for news. Carole is now holding Kurt, who is crying softly into her shoulder. Suddenly, Burt remembers something important.

"Kurt? Did Blaine have - ? Was he remembering his attack?" Burt asks, his voice low.

Kurt nods, and turns to look at Burt

"Yeah, he was. He started crying and screaming to let him go, even when we weren't touching him. We couldn't get Finn or Sam or anyone to carry him because he got so violent. In the end, I had to carry him. I don't even know if he knew it was me, or if he just knew that I wasn't going to be able to overpower him. I heard the nurse say something about sedating him when they were taking him back."

It's exactly what Burt was concerned about. Nothing else is said as they wait, each person steadily growing more concerned as the clock ticks away. Eventually, a doctor comes out to give them news.

"Are you the family of Blaine Anderson?" She asks.

Burt doesn't bother to correct Kurt when he says "yes."

"You can go back to see him in just a minute or so. We've bandaged him up and given him some pain relievers and sedatives, so he's a little bit out of it. He's going to need to come back at the end of the week."

She pauses for a second. Burt resents her for it.

"Whatever it was that got in his eye, it did some damage. He's got a pretty deep scratch to his cornea, and we're going to have to operate to fix it."

Burt's family lets out a collective gasp, which from Kurt is more of a wail.

"He can go home with you tonight, and I'm going to give you an information package about some of the care he'll need until then, as well as some prescriptions he'll need. You can go back and see him now, two at a time."

It's silently agreed that Kurt and Burt will go back first. Burt gives Kurt a few minutes head start. When Burt walks into the small room, the scene that greets him is awful. Kurt is sitting on the edge of Blaine's bed, running his hand through Blaine's curls and he wipes tears from his own eyes. Blaine has a bandage covering his injured eye, which wraps the whole way around his head. His clothes are stained with what Burt realizes is not blood, mercifully, but a dark red slushie.

He crosses the cramped room and sits down in one of the visitor chairs.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Burt asks, hoping to not startle the boy.

"Burt?" Blaine says, his voice a hoarse whisper. "What're you doing 'ere?

Burt tries to ignore the way Blaine's words slur together.

"We're going to take you home soon, okay, bud? Your parents are on their way, but they won't be home for a while. We're going to stay with you until then."

"Okay." Blaine mumbles. "S'long as Kurt's here."

Blaine nuzzles a bit into the hand that Kurt has in his hair. Burt watches as Blaine's visible eye closes, and after a few moments, his breathing has evened out as he falls asleep.

Kurt gets up from his spot on the bed. He paces the length of the bed a few times, and then opens and closes his mouth.

"I – I'm gonna." And then he leaves the room.

Burt isn't sure whether to leave Blaine and follow him, or to stay with Blaine and trust that Carole could handle Kurt. With a sigh, he gets to his feet and walks to the door of the small room. He peeks out into the hallway. He sees Carole talking to Kurt in a way that looks extremely maternal. Burt's glad. He sits back down at Blaine's bedside.

As much as Blaine had been reliving his attack, Kurt is probably reliving losing his mom and nearly losing Burt a year or so before. The kid had spent way too much time beside hospital beds.

Staring at Blaine's tiny, sheet-covered frame, Burt can't help but think about the last time Blaine was in the hospital. That time, the red stain on his clothes would actually have been blood. He wonders if Blaine's parents were there that time, or if Blaine was all alone.

Burt's thoughts are interrupted when Finn comes in. He stands awkwardly at the foot of the bed for a few moments, before moving to sit by the window.

"They really love each other, Kurt and Blaine, don't they?" Finn asks.

"Yup."

"And they can get married now, right?" Finn continues.

Burt's not sure he likes where this is going.

"Well, in a handful of states. Not in Ohio, anyway."

"But they love each other." Finn says again.

"Yup." Burt repeats.

"So why shouldn't they be able to get married?" Finn says, a confused look on his face.

Burt can't help but chuckle.

"Beats me, sport."

Carole appears at the door, angling her head to the hallway. Burt gets the hint, and gets up to leave the room, patting Finn on the shoulder as he goes.

"Kurt needs help with all of the paperwork. He's on the phone with Blaine's dad, but it's still a bit of a mess." Carole smiles at Burt. He gives her a swift kiss on a cheek and heads over to the nurses' station.

"You know what I'm thinking?" she calls gently.

"You bet I do." Burt replies, not even looking back.

It's an inside joke between the two of them. He'd started going out with Carole in the spring two years ago, and just a few months later he had his awful heart attack. The day that he woke up, Carole was there to see him. Apparently, she'd been sitting at his bedside waiting for him to wake up, almost as anxious as Kurt had been. There were a few long moments of Burt assuring her that he'd never scare her like that again (an empty promise, but he'd already realized he'd promise Carole anything). And then, Carole said the line that they had since quoted at each other way to often:

"I really don't think I'd put up with this shit for anyone else."

As harsh as it sounds, it's more of a promise: no matter how bad things get, I'll get through it because you're worth it to me. They started saying that to each other so often, like the time that the washer overflowed and flooded the basement, that they didn't even have to say the phrase anymore to know the other was thinking it.

It takes way too long to complete the forms, but at least it gives them something to do while they wait for Blaine to be discharged. The doctor comes back with all the information and describes to Kurt how to administer the eye drops and change the bandaging. After getting everything sorted, it's finally time to leave around midnight.

Kurt wheels Blaine out to the parking lot, but Blaine allows Burt to lift him into the car. Finn finds a blanket in the back to lie over Blaine, and Kurt's eyes soften in gratitude at the gesture. They drive to Blaine's house and Burt ignores the practiced ease with which Kurt enters the key code for the garage. They help Blaine into his bedroom, and wait outside the door while Kurt changes Blaine into his pyjamas. There's a silent agreement that Kurt will stay with Blaine, even once the boy's parents are home. Burt's already writing his excuse note from school in his head.

Finn heads to the living room to watch TV, but Carole and Burt stay in Blaine's room. They sit in his arm chairs, and Kurt sits on the bed, Blaine's head in his lap. They've been instructed to give Blaine the pain killers on schedule, even if he's not feeling pain, but they haven't been home too long when the sedation wears off. Any hopes that Burt might have had of a nap are destroyed when Blaine wakes up from his doze, thrashing and screaming. Burt watches, frozen to his chair as Kurt pulls Blaine into his arms, rocking him as his screams die down. There's no doubt in Burt's mind that Kurt has done this before when Blaine's woken up with nightmares.

But after a few moments, Blaine starts mumbling, and the words he speaks are awful.

"Friends, Kurt! How could – it hurts – they're supposed – Warblers – always loyal."

It's not about the Sadie Hawkins attack anymore; it's about the fact that it was his friends that had done this to him. It's one thing to be attacked by homophobic bullies, strangers, really, but being hurt by his friends?

Kurt doesn't have any words of comfort for Blaine, tears running down his own cheeks. He just holds Blaine tighter to him, whispering to him that he'll be okay, that Kurt loves him. Burt's not surprised that it doesn't seem to help.

The more that Blaine wakes up, the more the sleep and sedation leave him, the more upset he is. Burt's genuinely wondering whether to run to the pharmacy to get a sleeping pill for the boy. He just watches and listens until Blaine says something that scares him.

"Kurt, I just. Kurt. Please. I want to cut so bad. Just this once. I need it. Kurt, please. Please."

Kurt turns to look at Burt, his eyes wide with the fear that Burt feels. Luckily, Carole responds faster than Burt can. In the blink of an eye, Carole has her arms around Kurt and Blaine both, sandwiching Blaine between herself and Kurt.

"Blaine, I know you're upset. I can't imagine how hurt you must be feeling right now. But we are not going to let you hurt yourself. We love you Blaine, and we want you to be healthy and happy and safe. I know that you feel like you need to cut right now to cope, but you don't. You don't need to hurt yourself to deal with this. We're all here to help you get through this, no matter what you need to do. Just let it out. Go ahead and feel angry, Blaine, you really deserve to. If you feel so angry that you could scream, go ahead and scream. We might even scream with you, because we're really angry, too. Just let it out, Blaine. Let out whatever you're feeling."

Blaine twists in his seat and angles his head to press it against Carole's shoulder.

"They were friends." He whispers weakly.

Kurt rubs Blaine's back, and Carole strokes Blaine's hair.

"I know, sweetie, I know."

"They were there for me when no one else was." Blaine's voice is getting stronger now.

"THEY WERE THERE FOR KURT WHEN NO ONE ELSE WAS!" And then suddenly, Blaine's screaming. Burt considers covering his ears against the noise, but thinks that would send the wrong message. "HOW COULD THEY DO THAT TO HIM! HOW COULD THEY TRY TO HURT KURT LIKE THAT! THEY KNOW HOW MUCH HE WENT THROUGH AT MCKINLEY. KURT TOLD THEM ABOUT HOW MUCH THE SLUSHIES HURT! HOW COULD THEY DO THAT TO HIM!"

Burt can't believe it. After everything he's gone through, Blaine is angry because the Warblers tried to hurt Kurt. Wrapped up in gauze and pumped with painkillers, Blaine is still thinking about Kurt before himself.

Blaine's holding his head now, gasping from the exertion of yelling. Perhaps the shouting wasn't a good idea.

"It just hurts so much." Blaine mumbles. Carole helps him lie back down.

"Why does everyone hate me, Kurt?" Blaine finally says, his voice so quiet that Burt has to lean forward to hear it.

"I had to leave my high school because of bullies. The Warblers just betrayed me. No one at McKinley likes me. Why can't I have friends?"

Fresh tears appear on Kurt's face.

"I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you so much Blaine Anderson, don't you ever forget that."

Kurt repeats his mantra, but Burt's not sure how much good it does. Blaine has tired himself out enough that with his last few words, he'd fallen back to sleep. Still, Kurt continues repeating the phrase, over and over. He repeats it until it's just a hoarse whisper, and then he falls asleep, too, still holding Blaine to his chest.

Neither Carole nor Burt say anything. After all, what could they possibly say?

* * *

Burt figures he must have dozed off for a while, because he jolts awake when he hears the rumbling of the garage door opening, signalling the return of Blaine's parents. Kurt's asleep beside Blaine on top of his blankets. Carole helps Burt to his feet and they leave Blaine's room together.

Burt had never really met Blaine's parents before, despite their sons being together for nearly a year. This meeting didn't prove to reveal much about their character to him. They dropped their bags at the front door, from which they hurried straight to their son's room, barely even taking in the strangers in their entry hall. Burt and Carole followed them, and watched from the doorway as the couple leaned over Blaine's bed to inspect him.

It was only after seemingly deciding that he would be okay, that they addressed Burt and Carole. Burt got them to sit down at their kitchen table. He gave them all of the information the doctor had, as well as a number for them to call if they had any questions. They were thankful and polite, and Burt couldn't help but think it, really quite bland.

They were okay with letting Kurt stay, not even batting an eye when Burt suggested it under the explanation of Kurt knowing how to administer the drops and change Blaine's bandages. The Andersons walked them to the door when they'd woken Finn and got him ready to go. Mr. Anderson shook Burt's hand and thanked him again, and then they were on their way home. Burt couldn't explain it, but he felt so wrong leaving.

* * *

Burt didn't see much of Kurt for the next few days. Burt only let him take the one day off, but every moments that Kurt wasn't at school, he was at Blaine's. Kurt would call occasionally to say that Blaine was doing fine, but never much more than that. One afternoon, Burt checks the mail, and he sees an envelope with those five letters that matter so much to Kurt. N-Y-A-D-A. Kurt needs good news right about now. Burt genuinely considers opening it for Kurt. Giving it to him if it's an acceptance and just burning it if it's a rejection. He realizes he can't do that, so he heads straight to McKinley. He gets Mr. Schue to pull Kurt out of class, and, naturally, Kurt panics, thinking that Blaine had taken a turn for the worse.

Instead, it's the letter. Burt watches Kurt's eyes widen as he reads the return address. Burt tries to remind Kurt that a 'no' is not the end of the world, but in the end it doesn't matter – Kurt is a NYADA finalist. Burt would have been proud of Kurt even if he hadn't gotten in, but this is just incredible. Burt jumps around and hugs Kurt and can't even remember a time where he'd been more excited or hopeful. Kurt's dreams are coming true, simple as that.

"Who's gonna tell Blaine, you gotta let me do it!" The words are out of Burt's mouth before he even thinks them.

It's decided that Kurt will finish his day of school, and then Burt will drive them over to Blaine's. The hours pass slowly, and Burt gets to the school twenty minutes before the bell because he just can't wait any longer. The bell rings, and Burt thinks four seconds pass before Kurt flies out of the building, sprints to the car, jumps into the passenger seat and yells "Go! Go, go, go!"

"What did you steal?" Burt asks.

They laugh like it's the funniest thing they had ever heard. And it's not that funny, not really. Burt briefly wonders if they're becoming hysterical. They haven't had much to laugh about this week, and suddenly, they have good news. Burt thinks they've earned a few minutes of craziness.

They're still giggling when they pull into Blaine's driveway. Blaine's mom answers the door. She's not at all surprised to see Kurt, Burt notices, but she is surprised to see Burt. They offer a hurried explanation before heading to Blaine's room. Kurt knocks softly before barging into the room.

Blaine's sitting up in his bed, looking much, much better than the last time Burt saw him. His bandaging is now reduced to just a simple eye patch. He's got a magazine spread out on his lap and he's sipping a cup of tea.

"Hey Kurt, how was school?" Blaine says, and then he notices Burt. "Burt! What are you doing here?"

Burt feels pleased that Blaine sounds happy to see him.

"We've got some good news!" Burt says quickly, unable to draw it out as Kurt suggested.

Blaine looks at them, a strange look on his face, almost as if he doesn't understand the phrase "good news."

"Dad brought me a letter at school today." Kurt begins, moving over to sit beside Blaine.

"Yeah?" Blaine says. He seems unable to see how this could be good news.

"Here." Kurt interrupts, handing Blaine the letter. "Just read it for yourself."

Blaine opens the envelope, unfolding the letter and as he smooths it out, his jaw drops.

"NYADA? Does this? Are you?" Blaine reads the letter. "YOU'RE A FINALIST?!"

Kurt can only nod, as tears have filled his eyes. Burt is positively beaming watching the scene.

Blaine lets out a massive whoop, which becomes several screams of phrases like "I told you you'd get in!" and "I'm so proud of you!" and "New York, Kurt!"

Blaine's mom appears at the door, and with a stern glance convinces Kurt to try to calm Blaine down. When Burt leaves after a few minutes, he tells himself that it's to let the two boys celebrate together, but that's not the whole reason. Sitting in Blaine's bedroom, it's impossible for Burt to not thinking about the night of Blaine's injury, how much pain he was in and how he depressed he became.

As Burt says goodbye to Blaine's mom, he hopes to himself that Blaine's joy at Kurt's news will not be replaced with greater sadness. After all, Kurt going off to New York is Kurt leaving Blaine. A frown appears on Burt's face as he considers this. Would the two boys be able to survive a full year apart?

* * *

Thank you for reading! I hope the length of this chapter has made up for the wait! I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it!

A few short explanations of things: Finn's obsessed with the concept of marriage right now, because of his proposal to Rachel. I tried to work that in subtly, so hopefully you were able to pick up on it! I didn't include Sam in this chapter, even though he was part of the New Directions/Warblers confrontation. I tried a few times to work him in, but he just interrupted the flow, I guess. I didn't include anything to do with the attempts to get Sebastian arrested, etc, because that whole subplot really bothered me, and if Papa Bear Congressman Burt Hummel had wanted that little shit arrested, it would have happened! Also, I'm not going to pretend that as a Canadian I can even begin to understand the US health care system. Hopefully, I wasn't too far off.

I've introduced Blaine's parents in this chapter. I know that they're fairly disappointing, but that was the point. When I think of his parents, I think of the first line of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, wherein Vernon and Petunia insists that they are absolutely perfectly normal. I see Blaine's parents as really one-dimensional, boring people, that just don't understand their vibrant son. Cooper had been able to naturally fit the mold of the normal, perfect son, but Blaine was just too busy wearing purple and singing Katy Perry songs. I know that it's a really different approach than most author's take, and hopefully, even if it doesn't fit your headcannon, you can see the reasoning behind it!

Next up will be "Heart" which is already mostly written. I'm skipping over "The Spanish Teacher." "Heart" will be fairly short, but followed by "On My Way" which most certainly will not be.

I have a new one-shot up, not part of this 'verse but could still be read as part of it, perhaps between "Rumours" and "Prom Queen." It can be found via my profile. Warning: slight smut, major emotions.

Thank you to** raem9898, KlainePotter, Nurse Kate, sasimljemihuddy, bevjima **and** jongkeybias** for leaving reviews!


	23. Heart

Trigger warning: discussion of assault (Kurt and Karofsky locker room scene.) Please do not read if this will be triggering for you.

* * *

From what Burt's heard, Blaine's surgery had gone well and he was expected to make a full recovery. He must have been doing well because Kurt had been coming home going on about how sweet Blaine was and that he'd been leaving secret admirer notes for Kurt. Burt didn't really understand how that worked, but Kurt was happy so Burt was happy, too.

Finn and Rachel have eclipsed Kurt and Blaine as the couple that Burt is worried about. Apparently, after finding out the truth about his dad's death, Finn had gone into a downward spiral which culminated in proposing to Rachel. When Burt finds out, he is not pleased. He and Kurt's mom had gotten married sooner than their parents had wanted, but that was different, wasn't it?

Burt is surprised to discover that no one is more upset about this development that Kurt. It takes a lot of prying, but eventually Burt finds out why.

"They get to make a split decision, do something stupid and reckless, but even if Blaine and I had been together for ten years, we still can't get married in this goddamn state! How can that possibly be fair! They don't realize how lucky they are, how big of a deal it is to get married! Gays aren't "ruining the sanctity of marriage" – high school seniors getting married because they don't think they have a future are!"

Kurt's being harsh. He's hurt and he's lashing out. But as cruel and arrogant as his words are, Burt can't help but think that there is a certain amount of truth to them. Burt and Carole agree to go over to the Berry household to meet her dads – their future in-laws. Burt liked meeting Rachel's dads, Hiram and Leroy. While they were individually so different from Kurt and Blaine, his two boys were all Burt could think of during the dinner. He found himself hoping that Kurt and Blaine could be as happy as Rachel's dads when they got to the same age.

However, the dinner was dual purposed: to make Finn and Rachel aware of just how big of a deal getting engaged truly is. Unfortunately, it backfires and Finn and Rachel decide to push the wedding forward to be after regionals the next week.

One of the girls from Glee Club organized a big party for Valentine's Day evening. Kurt went to it, and so did Finn and Rachel after the whole dinner party/teenager lovemaking fiasco. Kurt comes home from the party fairly late, and Burt is surprised that Blaine is with him. The boys say a quick hello and then head straight up to Kurt's bedroom. Burt's not stupid – he knows what's going on up there – but he pretends he doesn't. He heads upstairs to the master bedroom to suggest to Carole that they have their own Valentine's Day celebration.

* * *

The next morning, Burt comes downstairs to find Kurt and Blaine making chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Kurt must be in a good mood, because it's real bacon, not that turkey stuff he'd been buying for the past year. The boys have music on and they are singing and dancing around the kitchen as they work.

Burt pours himself some coffee and sits down at the table, hoping desperately that he would be allowed to eat some of the bacon. Sure enough, he is. The boys sit down at the table, and Kurt puts a bowl of his standard cereal in front of Burt, but then gives him a plate with two pancakes and two pieces of bacon. Burt thinks Valentine's Day should be more than once a year.

"So how was the party?" Burt asks, trying to figure out when Blaine showed up.

"It was boring until Blaine arrived." Kurt says, pouring syrup on Blaine's pancakes.

"I was a surprise." Blaine says with a smile. "Sugar was the only one that knew I was going to be there."

"So this was part of the whole secret admirer thing?" Burt asks, and instantly regrets it.

Kurt turns bright red and a strange look appears on Blaine's face. Blaine turns to look at Kurt.

"What secret admirer thing?" Blaine asks. He doesn't sound upset, but Burt is worried all the same.

"Oh it was nothing. Just some cards in my locker. I'll tell you about it later." Kurt tells Blaine. He's giving Blaine some pretty significant looks, but it seems like their telepathic abilities aren't evolved enough yet, because Blaine doesn't get the hint.

"No, you'll tell me now, Kurt." Blaine argues. "Who was it?"

Kurt looks pleadingly at Blaine for a few moments but seems to realize it's not doing him any good.

"Fine. It was Dave." Kurt answers, throwing his hands in the air.

"Karofsky?" Blaine asks.

"WHAT?" Burt can't help but yell. "What the hell, Kurt! What's going on?"

Kurt's looking at his hands now, picking at this nails.

"It was never my secret to tell." Kurt says. He looks at Blaine, as if wanting support. "Dad, you can't tell anyone this, but Dave, uhm, he was bullying me because he was confused about his sexuality and he resented me for being out of the closet."

Burt cannot believe his ears.

"What?" He repeats weakly.

"Santana figured it out last year, so they started going out together so that they could both seem straight. Apart from me and Blaine, she's the only one that knows. She made him realize how bad everything was that he had done to me, and when we met before I transferred back, he apologized. I know that he is genuinely sorry for what he did. And I forgave him. He switched schools at the beginning of the year because he wanted a fresh start."

"So what was this about him admiring you?" Burt says. Blaine nods.

"I was getting cards in my locker all week. Just little cheesy things. I thought they were from Blaine, but apparently they weren't. The last one said to meet him at Breadstix before the party, so I did."

Burt and Blaine let out simultaneous sounds of protest and concern.

"Nothing happened, I was totally fine. We talked for a bit about his new school and he said that he thinks that he likes me. So I told him that I was with Blaine and that I was sure Dave would find someone else, and realize that he only liked me because I was the only out guy he knew. He got embarrassed, so he got up to leave. As he was heading out, this guy from his new school recognized him. He was one of those jerky, jock guys, so hopefully he wasn't smart enough to figure out what we were talking about."

After all that the kid put Kurt through, Kurt is still concerned about his well-being. Burt is amazed and slightly horrified. Kurt's too forgiving, too trusting.

"So that's it?" Blaine asks.

"Mhm." Kurt answers.

"Okay." Blaine says, kissing Kurt on the cheek and going back to his pancakes.

Burt can't believe how calmly Blaine is taking this. The guy that threatened his boyfriend just made an attempt to steal Kurt from him. And Blaine's just eating his breakfast like nothing is wrong. Burt doesn't understand, but he hopes that this will be the end of things. Then again, the last time he hoped a situation would just go away, Sebastian had blinded Blaine.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I know it's short, but "On My Way" will be much longer!

I know that the ending feels rather abrupt, but this is one of those moments (like with Blaine and Finn's problems) that if Burt had known more/got more involved, the episodes would have been very different. So I know it feels incomplete, but hopefully "OMW" will make up for that!

I moved back into my university residence today, and the next two weeks will be literally insane. I can't promise to be able to write any more, but I do have one more chapter ready to post, so expect that on Wednesday. Hopefully by Saturday, I'll have some free time, so I may post again then. Sorry for the wait!

Thank you to KlainePotter, iliveforglee11, bevjima, raem9898 and cellowings for commenting. Jackie mentioned that she kindof wants to see Blaine self-harm again, and I'll confess I'm interested in that, too. If anything it would be in "Dance with Somebody" but I'm still undecided.

Take care and I'll see y'all Wednesday! : )


	24. On My Way

**Trigger warnings:** This chapter includes discussion of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, assault and a suicide attempt. PLEASE do not read this if any of the above may be triggering for you. If you are suicidal, please call your local hotline.

* * *

Burt gets a call in the afternoon from Blaine. When the boy starts to speak, Burt can barely figure out the words he's saying.

"Can you come pick us up please? Please, Burt."

Burt is instantly terrified when he realizes that Blaine is sobbing, and that he can hear Kurt crying in the background, too.

"Are you at school? Are you safe?" Burt demands.

There's a shuffling noise and Burt worries that he's being hung up on, but then a new voice comes on the phone.

"Burt, are you still there?" It's Will Schuester.

"Yeah, I am." Burt answers. "What the hell's going on, Will?"

"Your boys are safe, Burt. They're perfectly fine. We, uh, we just found out some upsetting news."

Upsetting news? What could it possibly be now? Burt hopes to God that it's just something to do with their regionals song selection.

"Okay, I'll be there real soon." Burt says, already picking up his keys. "You'll stay with them, right, Will?"

"Of course, Burt." Will replies. "Emma's here, too. They'll be fine."

Burt drives fairly recklessly on his way to the school. As much as he'd like to believe Will that his boys are fine, he doesn't. He pulls into the parking lot and runs to the choir room. He finds all of the glee kids sitting around, some on the floor, some on chairs. Most are hugging each other and several are crying. It's one of the worst things Burt thinks he's ever seen.

And then he sees Kurt and Blaine. Kurt is still crying, but now he's also half shouting, half moaning.

"It's all my fault. Oh my God, oh my God. Why didn't I answer the phone?!"

Blaine's clutching Kurt to him, trying to calm his boyfriend while he himself sobs, too. Emma's kneeling in front of Kurt, speaking in a calm soothing voice. Will comes up beside Burt.

"We'd just started practice when Emma came to the door. Figgins had gotten a phone call that David Karofsky tried to kill himself."

Burt leans against the wall as his knees go weak.

"Tried?" He whispers.

"When his dad found him, he still had a pulse, but they're not sure how much damage he's done. He's still unconscious, and they're not sure yet if he's going to wake up."

"Do they know - ?" Burt says, trying to speak, but struggling to find words. "Why did he - ?"

Will shifts uncomfortably, and Burt doesn't miss the way his eyes dart to Kurt and back.

"Well, apparently, some of the guys at David's new school started a rumour that he's gay. They were spreading it everywhere, vandalizing his locker and writing hate on his Facebook page."

Burt remembers so clearly the moment that he found out that Dave had threatened to kill Kurt. He remembers genuinely wanting to kill the boy. But now, things are so different. Burt's biggest nightmare had just come true for another boy's father: that his son would try to kill himself because of bullies. There is so much irony in the thought that Kurt's bully was being bullied, but Burt kicks it out of his mind. He's heard enough and done enough thinking.

He crosses the room quickly to where Kurt and Blaine are. He crouches down beside Emma and pulls both boys into his arms.

"Kurt. Blaine. I'm here now. It's okay. Do you still want to come home?"

"Burt, I'm not sure that's the best idea." Emma interrupts. "In times like this, it's often best for the students to be together – "

Burt gets what she's saying, but no one knows these boys better than Burt. They don't need the other Glee kids now, not at all.

"I hear you, but you must realize that they're processing this differently from everyone else. It's different for them. Surely you've noticed that."

Emma nods, and Burt sees a bit of pain in her eyes as she thinks about how deeply this hits the boys.

"I'm not going to let them out of my sight. I'll bring them in early tomorrow to talk to you, okay?"

Emma nods again, giving a weak smile before moving over to check on Puck.

Blaine starts to stand up, and helps Kurt to his feet. The moment Kurt is standing, Blaine wraps both arms around him and whispers something in Kurt's ear. Burt doesn't hear it, doesn't try to, but it must have helped because the two boys start walking towards the hallway together. Burt makes eye contact with Finn, who has a stunned look on his face as he hugs Rachel. Finn nods, as if telling Burt to leave without him. Sam's got his back to Burt as he tries to calm Quinn down. Burt asks Will to keep an eye on Finn and Sam, and the look Will responds with makes Burt confident that no one in Glee is going to slip through the cracks or go unnoticed.

Kurt and Blaine are silent as they head to the car. Burt gets behind the wheel and the boys sit together in the back. When they arrive home, the boys curl up together on the couch. Burt goes into the kitchen, trying to give them some space, but thinking he can still monitor them. The boys are too upset to be able to have a meaningful, beneficial discussion, Burt decides, so until they are able to truly process the event, he's going to make sure that nothing happens to either boy.

He knows why Emma wanted the boys to stay: she's worried about contagion. The loss of a peer to suicide can often lead to the deaths of other students, particularly those who were already mentally ill or suicidal. Even though Dave might very well pull through, there's still the horrible possibility of attempts by more students. Kurt was never that badly off, as far as Burt knows, even in his darkest days, but Burt is still worried about him, particularly since it sounded like he felt responsible, one of the most common responses to suicide.

Burt is seriously worried about Blaine. Even though he'd never admitted to being suicidal, Blaine's history of self-harm makes him particularly susceptible.

Burt sits down, his head in his hands. This is just too much to worry about. He calls Carole, and leaves a message on her voicemail, asking her to come home whenever she can. It's too much to deal with on his own.

Burt heads back into the living room, deciding to sit and watch the boys. As he sits down, he notices that both boys' eyes are closed, their breathing even. After a few moments, Burt realizes that Blaine isn't actually asleep. He's holding Kurt tightly to him, holding in his sobs so as to not wake up his boyfriend.

"Blaine." Burt says softly, hoping not to startle him. "You can get up if you want. You won't wake him."

Burt isn't sure that Blaine has heard him, until he starts to move slowly, removing his arm from underneath Kurt and tenderly placing Kurt's head on the arm of the couch. He climbs over the opposite arm and leaves the living room. Burt follows him, and they sit down together at the kitchen table.

"I know what you're thinking, Burt." Blaine says, nearly as soon as they're seated. "You're trying to figure out if Kurt and I were ever suicidal, aren't you."

Burt hates moments like this where Blaine seems to know him just as well as he knows himself. He frowns a little bit, trying to answer without saying yes or sounding foolish.

"It's crossed my mind." He says finally.

"Shall we start with Kurt, then?" Blaine offers. Burt's confused.

"Okay." Burt replies, his voice hesitant.

"I first met Kurt when he was at his lowest. And even then, I could tell by the look in his eyes that even though he'd been beaten down, he wasn't going to give in. Kurt's unbelievably strong like that. What did the bullies want more than anything? For him to go away. So Kurt would do anything to make his situation better, but he wouldn't do that. When we talked about him switching, he kept saying "But that's letting them win, Blaine." I told him he was wrong, and then as soon as Karofsky kissed him - "

Blaine pauses, realizing his slip. His eyes widen. Burt hopes that he misheard.

"What did you just say, Blaine?" Burt demands, his voice so low it was almost a growl.

"Um. The day that I met Kurt, I'd told him to confront his bully, let the bully know that he couldn't be pushed around." Blaine says, embarrassment crossing his face.

"What?" Burt can't believe that Blaine could have been that stupid.

"I know, I know, it was the worst advice that I could have given him. So he did what I suggested and confronted Karofsky. And Karofsky kissed him."

Burt swears. He knew that there was so much more to the whole situation. Kurt had good survival instincts, which was why Burt didn't understand at the time why he was so reluctant to report the death threat. But here was a perfect example of Kurt being too nice to people. His bully had assaulted him, and he never reported it, because he didn't want to out the boy. Of course Kurt had responded so violently when Finn outed Santana. Finn did it for revenge, and Kurt wouldn't even do it when his life was threatened.

"And you knew this?" Burt asks.

Blaine nods.

"He called me right after, in tears. I went and picked him up and we just sat in the park for a few hours. He told me the next day that it had been his first real kiss, and I remember wishing so much that it had been with me."

"Are there any more secrets?"

"Huh?" Blaine asks, tilting his head to one side.

"I just feel like the two have been keeping a lot of stuff from me. And I get that you're teenagers and all but there's just so many bad things happening, and it's always to do with the stuff you're keeping from me." Burt says, his frustration leaking out.

"Burt." Blaine replies, his voice is calm, but there's a touch of hurt there, too. "If Kurt had told you, straight away that Dave had kissed him, what would you have done?"

"Gone straight to Figgins." Burt answers immediately.

"And told him about the kiss?" Blaine shoots back.

"I probably would have."

"So you would have outed a teenager?" Blaine continues.

Burt gets what Blaine means, but he refuses to admit that he's wrong.

"How many things are there that you wouldn't do if you thought Kurt's life was threatened?" Burt replies.

"Burt, please. You know you're being unreasonable. Kurt and I both have good judgement, you know that. We don't keep things from you for the sake of it. And, I mean, we tell you a hell of a lot. For goodness sake, we gave you our STI test result sheets. We're incredibly upfront and honest about things. You have to trust us that if we're keeping something from you, we have a good reason."

"That's hard for me." Burt whispers, thinking about seeing the boys crying in the choir room.

"That's why I'll tell you about me, now."

Burt angles his head to one side, confused.

"You were worried about Kurt and me. I told you about Kurt, and now I'll tell you about me."

Burt knows he's being redirected and that this is an attempt to regain his trust. But he doesn't say any of this because he does really want to know about Blaine.

"I never tried to kill myself. Some nights when I was cutting I considered cutting deeper, just to see what would happen, but I never did it. I was never as brave as Kurt; there were definitely times when I did consider it. It was in the back of my mind, an escape route, as if I was thinking "Well, if things don't get better, I can always try cutting deeper." But I never did it. I was too scared to."

"I'm really glad you didn't." Burt says. He can't think of anything else to say.

"I am, too. So you don't have to worry about me." Blaine replies, leaning closer to Burt and forcing eye contact. He speaks slowly for emphasis. "I really like my life right now. There are days that suck, yes, but they are the minority. Two years ago, I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me about me and Kurt. But since I have all this now, there's no way I'm ever going to let it go."

"But the cutting?" Burt asks. For how good Blaine feels, he still talks about cutting a lot.

"I haven't cut for a whole year now. A year. That's incredible. I'm not going to say I'm cured, but I think my chances are pretty good. It's not something that's easy to get into."

"Huh?" Burt doesn't understand what Blaine means.

"Well, the first time a person cuts, it normally doesn't feel all that good." Blaine says with a sigh. "They know people that do it, or they've heard that it's good, so they try it. And it's not what they hoped. It just hurts. But then they try it again. In time, it does become the catharsis that you're craving. But I know that if I were to cut now, it wouldn't feel good. It would just be painful. So that's part of why I haven't for over a year now."

This doesn't entirely comfort Burt. It's almost as if Blaine is saying that if he was able to find comfort in cutting, he would still be cutting.

Burt's just about to mention this concern when he hears Kurt roll over on the couch. Burt and Blaine are silent, listening to hear if Kurt's woken up.

"Blaine?" A weak voice calls out from the living room.

"I'm here, sweetheart." Blaine calls back, getting up and going back to the room. "I was just in the kitchen with your dad."

And Burt is left sitting alone at the table. He doesn't feel comforted by Blaine's words, although he knows he probably should be. It must be because he doesn't yet know how bad the news truly is – will Karofsky be able to pull through?

Burt grabs the phone from its charger on the counter and dials Will Schuester's number. Will answers, saying that the boy had woken up, and there was some damage but that he was expected to make a full recovery. Burt can't help but realize that the update is only about his physical condition, saying nothing about his mental state. All the same, it is good news.

He heads back out into the living room, where Kurt is snuggled into Blaine's lap. They're speaking in soft voices and Burt lets himself listen in on their conversation. He only hears a few words before Blaine notices him there.

"Would you mind sitting down with us, please?" Blaine asks, angling his head towards Burt's chair.

Burt sits down, and holds up a hand to keep Blaine from speaking.

"Just a sec. I just was talking to Mr. Schuester. Dave's awake, and he's going to be fine."

Fresh tears appear in Kurt and Blaine's eyes.

"Now, I'm not going to try to pretend that I understand what's going on, or that I know what you two are going through, but I can promise you that you can tell me anything right now."

Blaine rubs Kurt's arm gently, and Kurt cranes his head to see his boyfriend's face. The telepathic communication has returned. Eventually, Kurt turns around to face Burt.

"I have something to tell you, Dad." He mumbles, his voice quiet.

"Okay, Kurt." Burt replies. He notices the way that Blaine's body language has changed. Instead of just comforting Kurt, he's now practically cocooning him. It's very protective, but Burt's not sure what Blaine is trying to protect Kurt from.

"Right before I met Blaine, when the bullying was really bad and you were still sick, it crossed my mind." Kurt whispers. "It was only for a second, and I never let myself think about it again. I was just walking across the bridge, and I suddenly realized that it would just be so easy to fall off. I never would have actually done it, and I felt so ashamed and so guilty for thinking about it."

All three men are crying now, and Burt doesn't think he's been this upset since Kurt's mom died. Blaine's still doing his best to protect Kurt, and now Burt understands why. He's trying to protect Kurt from the world and from himself, to let nothing hurt him. He's clinging to Kurt, trying to keep him safe, happy and alive. Burt understands because he wants so desperately to do the same.

"I just want you to know," Kurt manages to choke out through the sobs, "That I would never, ever do that to you. You were why I didn't do it. You and the hope that someday I'd meet someone that could understand me. I never considered it again, and I never will. I promise you. I promise."

Burt gets up, unable to stay so far away from his son. He sits down with the boys on the couch, and wraps his arms around whatever of Kurt he can reach until they are all just a tangle of limbs.

"I love you so much, Kurt. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Burt can't stop saying it, and he realizes he doesn't want to. He lets himself repeat it over and over and over again. He hears Kurt say it back, and he can just barely hear Blaine saying it, too.

* * *

The rest of the evening passes slowly. Carole comes home to find the three all still jumbled together. Finn and Sam come home sometime around dinner, bringing Puck with them. They'd all played football with Karofsky, and even though they'd been sworn enemies through Kurt's hard times, the suicide attempt had really affected all three of them.

Burt orders some pizza, figuring that if people aren't hungry, they can reheat it later whenever they have their appetite back. Burt reminds Kurt and Blaine about their appointments with Ms. Pillsbury the next morning, and they make it very clear that they don't see the value in speaking with her. However, they are too tired to argue, it seems, so they agree to go.

* * *

When the boys get home the next day, they aren't all that much better. Apparently, they'd had a group discussion about suicide and things that they are looking forward to being alive for. Blaine tells Burt that he'd considered telling his story about self-harm, finding himself sub-consciously tracing his scars, but he didn't want for people to treat him differently. Burt absently wonders if there were others in the group that were similarly silent.

The boys tell Burt that they'd met with Sebastian, who had apologized for the slushie incident. Blaine had not accepted the apology, but had felt some kind of forgiveness when Sebastian said, in tears, that he needed to stop treating people so badly. It seemed that Dave's near-death experience had affected him too, as he'd met Dave in the gay bar.

Burt attends the regionals performance, and while he'd never tell the boys, he didn't think the New Directions were up to their normal standards. The Warblers were good, but that Sebastian kid still seems so cocky that Burt can't muster up much appreciation, even when they dedicate their performance to David Karofsky.

The New Directions win and Burt is relieved. They needed a win right about now, but more than that, Blaine and Kurt needed to not lose to Sebastian. Blaine and Kurt head to the hospital to visit Dave, although Blaine decides to wait outside of the boy's room. Kurt tells Burt that he thinks Dave will be okay, but that his mom hasn't been very accepting and that he's going to try to be friends with him. Burt realizes that that might be exactly what David needs right now, and considers calling up his dad to offer his help with things, too.

Somehow, the tragedy had made Finn and Rachel decide that they needed to be married even sooner. The New Directions all packed into various cars to travel over to the court house. Burt and Rachel's dads were still trying to figure out a way to prevent the legal ceremony from proceeding, and in the end, they got their wish, but in the worst possible way.

Seconds before they were about to begin, Mr. Schuester got a phone call: Quinn Fabray had just been in a car accident. Burt genuinely considers grabbing his boys, plugging their ears, and cutting off their internet and phone access to prevent them from getting even more bad news. But he can't do that, and he knows it.

So they're off to the hospital, the waiting room filled with the Glee club all in their fancy clothes, Rachel still in her wedding dress. Emma's doing her rounds, trying to console all of the crying, panicked teenagers at once. She's a lovely girl, but Burt just isn't sure how much she's helping. He realizes, sadly, that there's really nothing she could do, short of magic, which would actually make the situation any less horrible.

Kurt and Blaine are huddled together in one chair, so entwined that Burt can't even tell which one of the boys is sitting on the other's lap. Burt and Carole sit next to them, and turn to look at each other when they hear Blaine whisper one short sentence to Kurt.

"I couldn't do this without you."

It's so close in meaning to their own phrase that Burt and Carole can't keep the tears from filling their eyes. They clasp their hands together, hoping both for themselves and for Kurt and Blaine that having each other will be enough to get through this.

* * *

Thank you for reading! I was really anxious to post this because it was an episode I really wanted to do justice. As someone who has experienced the loss of both a family member and a classmate to suicide, this episode was very emotional for me. I hope you thought that I handled this topic well.

Thank you to KlainePotter, bevjima, iliveforglee11 and dance-sing-live for reviewing the last chapter! There's nothing I love more than reviews (unless it's Burt and Blaine's relationship!)

The next chapter should be up on Saturday (if I get it written!) and it will be, of course, "Big Brother."

Take care!


	25. Big Brother

Time passes slowly after a tragedy, Burt has noticed. Even though they knew that both Quinn and Dave were expected to recover, the next few months were slow and strained. The boys come home one night from school, and Burt isn't entirely surprised to see an upset looking Blaine, but Burt is surprised that Kurt is not equally upset. Far from upset, Kurt is beaming, he's in his own little world until he'll turn to Blaine and say "But why didn't you tell me?"

Blaine doesn't answer, but Burt notices a tightness appear in his jaw. Something was not right. When Kurt goes to the bathroom later, Burt decides to ask.

"So why's Kurt so happy when you're so… not?"

Blaine lets out a slight snort.

"Did I ever tell you that I have a brother?" Blaine asks, a scowl on his face.

It's not a response that Burt was anticipating.

"Uh, no?" Burt answers, confusion creeping into his voice. "Not that I can remember, at least."

Blaine lets out a quiet snort, one that Burt's noticed he reserves for when he's really bitter.

"Yeah, I don't like to talk about him."

"Why not?" Burt asks, trying to keep Blaine talking.

"Typical sibling drama. He's quite a bit older than me, so growing up it was always 'Why can't you do this or that like Cooper?' or 'Cooper never got in trouble in school for doing things like that!' I know that it's normal to be compared to siblings and stuff, but I've just always really felt like the fact that they understood him better meant that they loved him more. I know it's stupid, but I've always felt like that."

Blaine rests his head on in his hands as he speaks, massaging his forehead slightly. Burt doesn't know what to say. On the one hand, he wants to tell Blaine that feelings are always important and respectable, even if you think they might be incorrect. But Blaine admitted to knowing that his response is irrational. So what more is there for Burt to say? Luckily, Blaine speaks again before Burt has the chance.

"Kurt called him the 'Handsomest Man in North America' and that voice in my head just said 'Look, it's someone else who prefers Cooper to you!'"

Burt cringes. He's sure that Kurt didn't mean it, that he didn't know how the phrase would affect Blaine, but it was still a tasteless thing to say.

"You gonna tell him?" Burt asks.

"What part?" Blaine shoots back, the bitterness resurfacing.

"Any of it. All of it. He can't understand what's going on if you don't tell him, bud. Your telepathy skills aren't quite there yet."

Blaine fidgets a moment, picking at a spot on the couch.

"Yeah, maybe." He finally says.

"Okay." Burt agrees. He's decided not to push the issue. Blaine's gonna have to figure it all out for himself. The two men settle back into an easy silence as they watch the game together.

* * *

The next time Burt sees Blaine, Kurt's helping him into the kitchen after school a day or two later. Blaine looks completely exhausted, and Burt can see that his knuckles are bloodied up on both hands.

Burt rises silently and helps Blaine into a chair. Kurt goes to the freezer and comes back with an ice pack for Blaine.

"What happened?" Burt asks, not sure he wants to hear the answer.

Blaine doesn't say anything for the longest time, so Burt turns to look at Kurt.

"Cooper said some hurtful things, so Blaine needed to work out his anger. He got a little bit over-enthusiastic with his boxing. I stayed around while he was punching the bag, but he ended up picking a fight with a wall in the shower, too."

Burt cringes. He'd punched a wall in highschool once and broken some knuckles. He watches Kurt tenderly inspect Blaine's hands, getting Blaine's fingers to move in circles to check for any internal damage to match the scrapes. Blaine still hasn't said anything.

Kurt must decide that Blaine's knuckles are okay, because he moves on to cleaning out the damaged skin with some rubbing alcohol, wincing along with Blaine when it stings.

"You want to talk about this, bud?" Burt asks Blaine, watching him carefully.

Blaine's body language is speaking loudly. It's aggression and defiance along with the exhaustion and vulnerability. He doesn't reply for a moment, but clenches his jaw a few times.

"I'd rather not." Blaine finally says, still not looking Burt in the eye.

Kurt makes a quiet noise of protest, and Burt notices a fleeting, apologetic look cross Blaine's face. It's gone in a heartbeat, replaced with more hostility.

"Okay, then." Burt agrees. "But if you change your mind, you come find me. Or if you feel worse."

Blaine gives a sharp nod.

"Hey, just look at me for a second, okay?" Burt asks, trying to prevent Blaine from shutting him out entirely.

It takes a few moments, but Blaine eventually angles his head to make eye contact with Burt. Burt immediately understands why Blaine hadn't wanted to make eye contact: he was trying to close out his vulnerability. When Burt looks Blaine in the eyes, the hurt is all he can see.

"We're not going to leave you, bud. We are so proud of you and we love you. It's that simple to us. Okay?"

Blaine frowns slightly, then nods, a few tears appearing in his eyes. Kurt wraps around his boyfriend, and Burt is relieved to see Blaine hug Kurt back. Burt decides to leave the two alone, moving to the living room with his work. Blaine's quiet for the rest of the night, but doesn't shut everyone out as Burt had worried he would. Burt finds himself hoping that this situation can be resolved quickly.

* * *

And suddenly, things are better. Blaine comes home laughing and joking with Kurt, trading tender touches and private smiles, no remnants of his earlier distress remaining. As much as Burt is relieved to see the boy happy, the drastic change concerns him. He brings it up during dinner.

"So everything is better with Cooper now, Blaine?"

Blaine's hand freezes, his fork halfway to his mouth. He gives a small smile.

"Yup. We talked some things through, and we're gonna try to be friends."

Something about this still isn't sounding right to Burt.

"Did he apologize?" Burt asks.

Blaine's eyebrows narrow in concentration, almost as if he is trying to relive the conversation in his mind.

"N-no, he didn't." Blaine says, finally. "But I'm sure he's sorry. He was really nice to me."

And there it was. Burt hoped that he was just being too hard on the other man, but to him, anyone who hurt Blaine that much needed to make a very clear apology, preferably with some grovelling involved.

He decides not to vocalize this thought. Hopefully, the brothers' relationship will be improved enough that it won't be an issue again. Maybe Cooper can even help bridge the gap between Blaine and their parents? It's something to hope for, that's for sure.

Burt watches Blaine, who is now telling Carole about something that happened in Glee club, while Finn, Sam and Kurt laugh and interrupt. Burt suddenly wonders whether being a part of this hodge-podge family has come to mean more to Blaine than being part of his own. As much as Burt wants for Blaine to have that strong relationship with his parents, Burt can't help but feel that Blaine belongs in this home more than in his own.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry that it was late! I really struggled writing this chapter – possibly becomes the time lines in it were confusing, but also because Burt wasn't in the episode at all. I hope that it was worth the wait!

I'm (hopefully) not going to be quite as busy this week, so I'm going to try to write every night. That doesn't mean I'll post every night, though!

Next up will be "Saturday Night Glee-ver." I want to show the underlying causes of the "Dance With Somebody" problems, like Burt being away more and Blaine pulling away. I've got a rough idea of how I'm going to do that, so hopefully it'll pull together nicely!

Thank you to KlainePotter, ovoriel, paddyofurniture, bevjima, myxbeautifulxidiot, iliveforglee11 and dance-sing-live for commenting!

Bevjima mentioned that they wished that I had included a scene in which Kurt explains why he felt responsible for Karofsky's attempt. I did try to incorporate this in, but I felt that it changed the focus of the chapter. I wanted it to be about Burt and his boys and who they are as survivors. I feel like Kurt's regrets were a natural response (I think I had Burt mention that at one point) and Burt would just treat it as that. Burt tends to pull information out of the boys, and since he didn't find that response strange or concerning, I don't think he would have explored it. I hope that makes sense!

Take care, and see you Wednesday! : )


	26. Saturday Night Gleever

After Blaine's comment months earlier, Burt had been very careful to make sure that he didn't let his new role as Congressman interrupt his family time and that he would still be in Lima as much as he could be. As spring rolled around, this became harder. He was busier, yes, but Burt had unconsciously started to avoid being home. He hadn't realized it at all, but he was starting to worry about his boys moving out in just a few short months.

The separation was going to hurt. It would be tremendously painful, especially to have Kurt so far away for so long at a time. Kurt was as much a part of Burt as his own arm was, and learning to cope without his first son was a task that Burt didn't know if he could face.

So, unintentionally, he began to practice. Two nights in D.C. became three, until they were four or more. And then, suddenly, he was missing the sacred Friday Night Dinners. When he was away, he would phone home and check in every night, sometimes twice if a lot was going on. At first, Kurt would give Blaine the phone so that he could talk to Burt, too, but this started happening less and less as Blaine started to spend less time at their house.

Kurt would complain about it, vague phrases like "He's always so busy" or "We haven't gone out in such a long time" but whenever Burt suggested that Kurt talk to Blaine about it, Kurt refused, saying that Blaine was bad with confrontation, and he didn't want to upset his boyfriend.

Burt's realized, particularly in the past few months, that any problems the boys have do not simply go away or work themselves out. Problems tend to escalate until they reach of boiling point of tears and hurt feelings. He tries to remind Kurt of this, but Kurt has moved on to a story about Glee club's disco theme week.

When Burt is home, he really notices that Blaine isn't around as much as had been normal. Plus, when Blaine is at the house, he seems a little bit disconnected from the family, almost as if he was holding back from conversation and interaction. Burt doesn't realize just how similar his actions are to Blaine's, and decides that if things aren't better by the next week, he's going to have to do something the next time he's home.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it was so short. I considered waiting to post it along with "Dance With Somebody" but I'm not far enough along in that to justify making you wait. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to do that chapter, since Burt was away for most of it, but I've got a few ideas.

Thank you to bevjima and NurseKate for commenting! To my frequent commenters that are MIA, are y'all okay? I miss hearing from you!

Thank you for putting up with me over the past few weeks. I'm going to do my best to get the next chapter up on Saturday, but we'll just have to see. Take care!


	27. Dance With Somebody

**Trigger warning: Self-harm. Please do not read if this may be triggering for you!**

* * *

It's late evening one day in Washington when Burt gets an unexpected phone call. He mutes the TV and grabs his cell, smiling when he sees the caller ID.

"Hey, buddy?" He says, "How's it going?"

His question isn't met with an answer, but rather a sob, followed by another.

"Blaine? What's going on? Are you okay?" Burt asks, starting to feel panicked.

"Kurt's fine." Blaine mumbles.

"I'm glad to hear that, but it's not what I asked, bud. Are you somewhere safe? Are you okay?" Burt prompts, not pacified in the slightest.

"I'm at home, but I – uh – I've been better." Blaine finally answers, his voice barely a whisper.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Burt asks. It must be something to do with Kurt, if Blaine is choosing Burt over his boyfriend.

A sob comes over the phone again.

"Will you – Would you still have left me come over in September, even once K-Kurt's not around?"

"Of course I will!" Burt replies, shocked. "You're part of this family, Blaine, simple as that."

Blaine says something else, but his voice is too quiet for Burt to make out the words.

"Can you say that again, Blaine?" Burt asks, "I couldn't quite hear you."

"Even if Kurt and I aren't together?" Blaine mumbles.

Burt is getting really worried.

"Even if you and Kurt aren't together." Burt assures the boy.

There's the sound of Blaine blowing his nose, but he doesn't say anything.

"Do you want to tell me what all this is about?" Burt doesn't mean to sound impatient but nothing about this conversation is making him feel any better.

"I, uhm, something happened. I don't want to talk about it. I'm just thinking that K-Kurt w-w-won't want t-to…" Blaine doesn't finish his explanation, as words are replaced with another loud sob.

"Blaine. I need you to calm down for me, okay?" Burt pleads. "Whatever is going on, it will be okay. Remember that time in November you called me at 3AM so upset? That worked out alright, and this will, too."

This doesn't seem to calm Blaine at all.

"Blaine." Burt says, practically begging. "Does Kurt still have your razors? Are you safe right now?"

Blaine doesn't answer, but continues to cry, perhaps harder than before.

"Buddy, I know that you're really upset right now, but cutting isn't going to help. Remember what you told me in February? That cutting doesn't feel good? It's not going to make whatever problem you're having go away. It won't help you. It will just add to your pain, and make you guilty later."

Blaine sniffs a little.

"I, uhm, I have one in my hand." Blaine finally says, his voice raspy. "That's why I called. I wanted you to stop me. I don't want to disappoint you. I don't want you to leave me, too."

"It's alright, Blaine." Burt says softly, trying to sooth the boy. "I'm not disappointed and I'm not going to leave you. Can you please put the razor away?"

There's a long moment of silence except for Blaine's sniffles, and Burt's just starting to wonder if Blaine will disagree, when a shuffling noise is heard.

"Are you putting it away now, bud?" Burt asks.

"Mhm." Blaine replies.

"Thank you, Blaine." Burt says, trying to encourage him. "I'm proud that you could do that. I'm glad that you called me for help."

"Uh huh." Blaine says. Burt can hear him blow his nose again.

"What were you going to say about you and Kurt? Why are you so worried about the fall?"

"He's going to leave me. I'm totally sure. He'll have New York, he'll have thousands of new people to meet, tonnes of guys will want to go out with him. He's going to realize that he's only with me because I'm the best option in this stupid town. He'll get to New York, and he'll meet someone better and leave me. I just know it."

"Don't you dare talk about Kurt and yourself that way!" Burt can't help but raise his voice, and doesn't even regret it when he hears Blaine whimper.

"First of all, any guy would be lucky to be with you. You're talented, you're smart, you're fun and you are really kind. Second, Kurt loves you. Kurt LOVES you. Kurt loves YOU. That's simple. Third, do you really think that Kurt is so cruel that he would leave you so quickly? You two have been together for more than a year now! Do you not think he values that?"

Blaine doesn't say anything for a long time, just sniffling. Burt starts to wonder why the hell he'd ever thought splitting his time between Lima and Washington could have been a good thing.

"He said some things." Blaine finally whispers. "He doesn't want to be with me. He's already found someone better."

Burt is horrified at how easily Blaine can say such a horrible thing, before he realizes that Blaine is simply repeating what he'd thought he'd heard Kurt say. It doesn't mean Kurt had said those things, but even if Blaine had massively misunderstood Kurt, there was extremely wrong with their communication.

"I'll be home tomorrow night, bud. I'll talk to Kurt then. Since you're not telling me much, I don't know what happened, but it definitely sounds like he hurt you pretty bad. We'll sort it out, okay?"

"Sure." Blaine says, but Burt thinks that he doesn't sound all that hopeful.

"Are you going to be okay tonight?" Burt asks, not forgetting Blaine's near-relapse earlier.

"Mhm." Blaine answers.

"And you'll call me again if you're not?" Burt prompts.

"Yeah, sure." Blaine says, his voice still bleak.

"Okay, then. Get some rest and have a good day at school tomorrow. Love you, bud."

Burt's glad that he said those last few words when he hears Blaine reply, his voice barely a whisper.

"Love you, too, Burt."

* * *

When Burt gets home the next day, he realizes that talking to Kurt is a little more complicated than he'd thought. Kurt gets really defensive during confrontations, so barging into his room and asking what the hell he'd done to Blaine would not be an effective approach. He decides to open up a conversation about Kurt's NYADA dreams and how he doesn't want Kurt to leave.

Kurt seems to understand what he's talking about, and even seems to make the connection to apply it to his relationship with Blaine. Burt's not entirely sure that he's done enough, but if it gets the boys talking again, well, they'll probably be okay.

It takes another day to pass before this does happen. Burt's sitting in the kitchen, three nights after his phone conversation with Blaine, when the two boys rush into the house. They are holding hands as they run past Burt, up the stairs, and then Burt hears the slam of Kurt's bedroom door. Burt cringes, glad that they're on good terms again, but entirely sure that he doesn't want to be around to witness them making up.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish it, and I acknowledge that it is short. It's hard to write a longer chapter when Burt plays such a small role.

Next up: "Choke." Not too sure how that will work, or when it will be up, but it shouldn't be too long.

Thank you so much to **bevjima, Nurse Kate, KlainePotter, Miss Olivia Cellophane **and** iliveforglee11** for leaving reviews! I love hearing what you think!

Take care, everyone!


	28. Choke

**Trigger warning: brief discussion of self-harm.**

* * *

Burt never did end up finding out what Kurt had done to make Blaine so upset, and he realized that it was probably for the best. Their business was their business, plain and simple. He did, however, tell Kurt about Blaine's late night phone call. He told Kurt that Blaine had called him, razor in hand, and that while Burt thinks that Blaine called before he could harm himself, he wasn't entirely sure. Kurt, unsurprisingly, cried when Burt described just how upset Blaine had been and promised to talk about that with Blaine later. Burt hoped that Kurt learned a valuable lesson about how his actions and words affect his boyfriend.

After the fight was resolved, the boys were more inseparable than ever. Burt began to wonder if they were trying to pack in eight months of couple-ness in the fourth months they had together before Kurt would leave for New York. Blaine was always around, helping Kurt practice for his NYADA audition, helping him choose his audition outfit, even helping him sort through his things to figure out what to pack and what to leave behind. It confused Burt. After how afraid Blaine was of Kurt leaving him, he now seemed to be helping Kurt out the door.

The next time Burt gets a moment alone with Blaine, he asks about it.

"So why are you suddenly so helpful with Kurt's grand plan of escape?"

Blaine doesn't answer for a few moments, but when he does, it's with a sweet smile on his face.

"It's what he wants. I'm helping him be happy. I like being involved now because it's getting my foot in the door. I'm ensuring that I've done everything I can to make sure he'll be okay. I feel almost like I'm protecting him from everything out there. Like if I can set things up perfectly for him, everything will work out. He'll be happy and healthy and safe and we'll be okay, too."

It's a bit overly idealistic, but Burt understands it for sure. It's the main reason that Burt wants to help Kurt move in all of his stuff into his new place in New York. If he can see that Kurt will be good there, he's got a whole lot to worry about.

Burt nods, patting Blaine on the shoulder.

"Is it working?" he asks.

Blaine tilts his head from side to side in a gesture that seems to convey mixed feelings.

"Yes and no. It is good for all those reasons I said, but now I'm so invested that I have to remind myself that I'm not going till next year. All this is happening to Kurt, not to me."

"So you're going to NYADA, too?" Burt asks, surprised. He's never heard Blaine talk about his future much.

Blaine does the head tilt again.

"Maybe not NYADA. Maybe NYU or even Juilliard. I just know that I want to be in New York. Not just because Kurt's there or it's his dream, but because it's been my dream too, just as long."

This raises new questions in Burt's mind.

"So are you too going to get a place together next year?" Burt somehow manages to keep his tone even, despite the anxiety he feels.

Blaine smiles, laughing slightly, obviously seeing through Burt's composure.

"Would you rather we had this conversation in six months, Burt?" It's teasing, and Burt doesn't even mind because he's so glad that Blaine's in a good enough mood to tease.

Burt decides to laugh as well, maybe even tease back.

"Sounds pretty good to me." Burt agrees. "But I can't see it being a problem. Hell, it'll be nice to not have to be worried about walking in on you."

Blaine turns bright red at this comment.

* * *

Burt had asked Kurt early on if he'd want Burt to come to his audition. Kurt hadn't been fully decided, but had ultimately done the whole "Oh, you know, whatever works best for you" speech. Burt wasn't sure what to make of that, but he decided to go all the same, but to sit at the back of the auditorium.

Hearing the scout lady talk before Kurt's performance got Burt really worried. It sounded like she really wasn't expecting to find anyone new or exciting – it was going to take a lot to impress her.

But then Kurt performs, and he's amazing. It's the best Burt's ever seen him, even if Burt didn't particularly want to see his baby boy dancing suggestively in skin-tight gold pants. Burt doesn't know anything about theatre, really, and he knows he's biased but in that moment, Burt decides that Kurt is every bit as talented as all those people in the musicals that he'd made Burt sit through over the years.

And, miraculously, the scout is just as impressed. She praises him, and Burt swears he hears Blaine let out a joyful sob. There's no doubt in Burt's mind that Kurt is getting into NYADA now. He literally couldn't have done a better job. And Burt is so proud. So incredibly proud.

He watches as Blaine jumps out of his seat to run backstage to congratulate Kurt. Burt considers staying to watch Rachel, but decides he's been away from his work long enough. A little voice in his head suggests that he needs to work harder to get to know and appreciate the girl. Technically speaking, she is just as close to being family as Blaine is. And yet, even while thinking that, Burt doesn't really feel it to be true. Huh. He'll have to work on that.

* * *

The boys get home somewhat late that evening, well after Finn and Sam have come home. Finn came home just to grab some stuff before heading over to Rachel's. Apparently her audition "hadn't gone so good" and she was "like really upset and stuff." Burt didn't try to get any more information than that from Finn, figuring he'd ask Kurt about it later.

Kurt and Blaine stumble in the door around eight that evening. Burt's glad to see that Kurt isn't still wearing those ridiculous gold pants, but isn't thrilled to notice that the sweatpants he's wearing are clearly Blaine's – they're about four inches too short at the ankle.

All the same, Burt tackles the boys into a bear hug, offering his congratulations and praise for the performance. Kurt had noticed he was there, apparently, but Blaine hadn't. They chat for a long time that evening, long enough that when they go their separate ways at midnight, Burt wonders when the last time had been that he'd just talked with Kurt for that long.

He realizes with a shock that they'd never had a chat like that before. It wasn't a parent offering advice or a child explaining something amazing they'd learned at school. They were talking more like friends than father and son. Blaine had helped to bridge the gap between them, that was sure, but there was more to it than that. Kurt had grown up a lot in the past year, there was no doubt in Burt's mind. He feels a pang in his chest as he realizes that Kurt's going to do even more growing up in the next year, and Burt's not going to be around to watch it happen.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry that I'm not posting as frequently, but I hope the chapters are worth the wait!

You may or may not have noticed, but I've uploaded two new one-shots over the past few days. One of these I've been finishing up since early August, and the other was a by-product of writing the Dance With Somebody chapter. You can find these stories through my profile. I've also somehow gotten caught up in writing a new multi-chapter fic (whoops!) It's an RPF about a pairing that seems obvious to me but apparently no one else. Anyways, that may see the light of day, but definitely not until I'm up-to-date with this story.

I want to respond to some of the comments from the last chapter. Bevjima mentioned the ambiguity of whether or not Blaine had cut. This was intentional. I've had a few readers mention that they kindof wanted to see Blaine relapse, so if you are one of those people, please go ahead and interpret that as a relapse. If you are opposed to the concept of Blaine relapsing, please interpret it as Burt intervening in time. I have an idea for a Klaine one-shot in the back of my head of their discussion of the event, but I make no promises for getting that done!

Just a quick note: I appreciate comments that tell me you're excited for the next chapter. I'm okay with comments expressing hope for an update soon. It bothers me, however, when I receive an update complaining that I haven't updated in a while, or that the newest upload was too short and disappointing. Reviews like that do not make me want to write faster, they just hurt. My life is busy right now. I am a person. I have a life. Many of my friends (who don't even know about the existence of this story) ask me frequently how I manage to balance all of the things in my life. Writing is normally a release for me, but when I have to worry about receiving upsetting reviews, it becomes more of a chore than a pleasure.

Anyways, thank you to bevjima, Nurse Kate, KlainePotter, Slytherin Klaine and Redvines and iliveforglee11 for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and enjoy the season premiere tomorrow! : )


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